Iran: Tehran react to US’s refusal to extend exemptions to oil exports

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SOT, Rouhollah Aboulhasani, Iranian Student (Farsi): "If we want to improve, we should distance ourselves from an oil-based economy and it does not matter whether we do it ourselves or the US forces us to do so. So it’s a path that we should embark on and as our supreme leader says, we should look at it as an opportunity and Iran will have a brilliant future God willing."
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SOT, Arash Effati, Iranian employee (Farsi): "Trump thinks that oil is like drugs. We have found good solutions during these past 10 years for exporting [oil] like different people and different foreign companies that are our partners and they cannot easily violate their obligations. So I am not really worried regarding this matter. I feel that it’s not true that if we give up our oil, our situation will definitely become tougher in some ways. We have to make do and wait and see what happens to Trump."
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SOT, Mehdi, Iranian employee (Farsi): "Authorities should do something, if we cannot export our oil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE that are the players of this game and the executers of the US’s plan, should not be able to export their oil. This is what the nation wants but [in any case] it should be done in such a way that it does not affect the people's livelihood and our economy."
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SOT, Zahra, Iranian housewife (Farsi): "Cutting Iran’s oil exports and its pressure is totally on people and people are taking its blows and it is getting tougher day by day and I think it is not a good solution. Because people are really under pressure."
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SOT, Iranian employee (Farsi): "That Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said they will fill the void [resulting from Iranian oil export cuts], so Iran should take action in this regard that it ends with benefits for us, not Saudi Arabia and the UAE."
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SCRIPT
Residents of Tehran on Monday reacted to Washington’s decision not to extend waivers granted to China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and India on their imports of Iranian oil.
"If we want to improve, we should distance ourselves from an oil-based economy and it does not matter whether we do it ourselves or the US forces us to do so," said an Iranian student with another adding that Iran had learned to work its way around such hurdles.
Others reacted to the US’s decision to transition to other regional oil sources such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fill in the void left by cutting Iran’s oil exports.
"If we cannot export our oil, Saudi Arabia and the UAE … the executers of the US’s plan should not to be able export their oil," said an Iranian employee who demanded official action.
The waivers granted to China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and India are set to expire on May 2.
The exemptions were granted back in 2015, when US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).