The Iranian officials on Sunday dismissed the EU's oil embargo against the Islamic republic and vowed to pursue its "rights" to the nuclear technology.

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said the Islamic republic is fully ready to confront the West's sanctions on the country's oil industry, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.

Qasemi said Iran's oil has its own markets and the Iranian government has studied all the possible options in dealing with the sanctions.

Iran's oil is sold in the international markets, Qasemi said, adding that today the Iranian oil is purchased by several European states, some of which have been participating in the development of Iran's oil projects.

The remarks of Qasemi came as the oil embargo of EU on Iran's oil exports started to take effect from Sunday.

"The Islamic republic of Iran has been facing oil sanctions for several years," and oil sanctions have had no effects on the development of the Islamic republic's oil industry, the minister said.

Iran's oil exports to the EU stood at 18 percent before the EU oil embargo and the figure is too low compared to the amount exported to other countries, the report quoted Qasemi as saying.

Since Iran's oil is both price-competitive and high quality, it has numerous customers throughout the world, the minister said, stressing that Tehran has entered negotiations with many new customers of the Iranian oil.

Also, Qasemi shrugged off the EU embargo on the Iranian oil sector, saying that the Islamic republic is completely prepared to counter the sanctions, Press TV reported on Sunday.

Qasemi said that the sanctions against Iran's oil have existed for many years, stressing that it would be wrong to consider that the sanctions only started on Sunday.

He warned those who have imposed the oil sanctions on Iran and said "we have repeatedly said you (Westerners) should not politicize the oil market because the citizens of those countries that impose the embargo will be hit the hardest."

Qasemi described as "irrational and illegal" the bid to impose sanctions on Iran and emphasized that the Islamic republic would pursue the issue through international bodies.

Further, Iran's Deputy Oil Minister and Managing Director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ahmad Qalebani said Sunday that Tehran can easily find new substitutes for EU customers of Iranian crude, as the bloc's oil embargo against the Islamic republic, the Press TV reported.

Qalebani expressed confidence that the implementation of the EU oil embargo poses no challenge to Tehran.

In January, the EU foreign ministers approved the new sanctions against Tehran, which prevents its member states from buying the Iranian crude. The sanctions went into effect on Sunday.

Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Shamseddin Hosseini said the announcement of a date for imposing a new round of oil sanctions is aimed at creating a psychological scare, the Press TV reported on Sunday.

Hosseini said that the sanctions actually started a long time ago and the West is conducting a psychological intimidation by setting a new deadline.

Western countries suspect that Iran is developing nuclear bombs under the cover of its nuclear program, while Iran insists on the program's peaceful nature.

During intensive talks in the Russian capital Moscow on June 18- 19, Iran and the P5+1 -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany -- did not sign any agreements, but agreed to meet again in Turkey's Istanbul in early July at the expert level.

Meanwhile, an Iranian lawmaker said the Islamic republic will never give up its "inalienable" rights to nuclear technology, Press TV reported Sunday.

"Based on its revolutionary principles and goals, the Islamic Republic of Iran will never give up its inalienable rights and will not surrender to the bullying of despotic powers," Mohammad- Hossein Farhangi, a member of Iranian Majlis (parliament) Presiding Board, was quoted as saying.

"The animosity of the West and the U.S. is manifest in the nuclear talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Farhangi, referring to last month's negotiations between Iran and the P5+1.

He dismissed speculations by the West that Iran's enrichment of uranium to 20 percent may be aimed at weaponization, arguing that such claims are unacceptable to the world's public opinion as the production of nuclear weapons requires the enrichment of uranium to at least 90 percent, according to the report.

The West will do their best to obstruct the emergence of Iran as a scientifically and technologically advanced nation in the world and as a model for Muslim nations, he said.

Farhangi also argued that even if Tehran yielded to the West's demands and abandoned its nuclear energy program, the Western powers would come up with other pretexts to put Tehran under pressure, as "their ultimate objective is to overthrow the Islamic ruling system."