Iran will continue its oil exports under any conditions, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told his British counterpart Jeremy Hunt in a telephone call on Saturday, according to a statement on the Iranian Foreign Ministry website.
Zarif also said Britain should quickly release the Grace 1 oil tanker, which was seized last week by British Royal Marines off the coast of the British Mediterranean territory of Gibraltar on suspicion of violating sanctions against Syria.
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British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told Zarif that London would facilitate the release of the tanker if Tehran gave guarantees it would not go to Syria.
Iran on Saturday again denied that the tanker was taking oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions.
The affair has stoked tension in the Gulf, with Britain saying on Thursday that it had fended off Iranian ships that tried to block a British tanker in the area.
"I reassured him our concern was the destination not the origin of the oil on Grace 1 & that UK would facilitate release if we received guarantees that it would not be going to Syria, following due process in (Gibraltar) courts," Hunt wrote on Twitter.
Tehran blames the United States for arranging the seizure of the tanker. Washington has imposed sanctions against Iran with the aim of halting Iranian oil exports.
European countries do not have sanctions against Iran but have had them in place against Iran's ally Syria since 2011.
Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told the territory's parliament on Friday the decision to detain the tanker, which he said was carrying 2.1 million barrels of oil, had not been taken at the request of any other country.
"Also spoke to @FabianPicardo who is doing an excellent job coordinating issue and shares UK perspective on the way forward," Hunt said.
Gibraltar Police said four crew members that had been arrested, including the vessel's captain and chief officer, had been released on bail without charge but their investigation was ongoing.
