Iran's oil minister insisted that tougher UN sanctions would fail to choke development of Iran's oil and gas industry.

Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh brushed off reporters' suggestions that Iran's energy industry would suffer as a result. Iran is the world's fourth biggest oil exporter and has the world's second biggest gas reserves.
"For the past 25 years we have witnessed unilateral sanctions by the US but have developed our oil industry with the help of internal resources and the help of other countries," Hamaneh told reporters.
"We have been able to maintain our production. We don't have any worry about that."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed any new UN sanctions resolution as "a torn piece of paper" that would not stop Tehran's nuclear work, a local news agency reported.
China, which sits on the UN Security Council, is one of the biggest investors in Iran's energy sector. European oil firms Royal Dutch Shell, Total and ENI have also invested heavily and buy Iranian oil.
Industry analysts have said Iran is in danger of slipping down the rankings of energy exporters, however, because it is not attracting enough money to compensate for steep decline rates from oilfields and meet rising domestic demand.