The Iranian first vice president Es’hagh Jahangiri said that leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei agreed to the withdrawal of $500 million from sovereign wealth fund to support Iran's pharmaceutical companies.

Iran PressIran news: “$500 million will be withdrawn from the National Development Fund, and exchanged into rial to support domestic pharmaceutical companies. Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei approved the measure last week, and there’s no problem,” the Iranian first vice president Es’hagh Jahangiri said at a ceremony marking the National Export Day on Sunday.

Talking about the US’ withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the re-imposition of economic sanctions, The Iranian first vice president said the second batch of sanctions, although not due until Nov. 5, seems to have already affected the oil, banking and transport indicators, which make the country's main sources of revenue, Mehr News Agency reported.

“A number of countries have already yielded to US President Donald Trump’s [pressure] and stopped buying our oil, but we haven’t been sitting around, doing nothing about it. We have found workarounds to export our oil against US’ wishes,” stressed Jahangiri.

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First Vice President Jahangiri: US cannot bring Iran's oil exports to zero

The Iranian first vice president had previously said that Iran had found new clients for its' oil, adding that negotiations had also been held with old clients to find ways around the sanctions. He had also maintained that even if sanctions cut Iran’s oil sales by half, the country would be still economically safe because it is selling its' crude oil higher than the price tag it has set in its' annual budget plan. 

In Oct 14, referring to US claim that it can reduce Iran's oil exports to zero, Es’hagh Jahangiri, Iran's first vice president emphasized the impossibility of the task, saying Washington will fail in its bid.

The Donald Trump administration had threatened to bring down Iran's oil exports to zero, but now the administration has decided to allow some countries to continue importing Iranian oil, at least temporarily, according to U.S. officials who confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon that some nations may get a temporary pass from a cadre of new sanctions set to be imposed next month.

Back in May, the US withdrew from a 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran and said it would re-introduce the sanctions that had been lifted under the accord.

Washington reinstated a series of unilateral sanctions against Iran in early August and would re-impose a second batch in November which would primarily be meant to undermine Tehran’s oil exports.

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