U.S. sanctions cannot cut Iran's oil sales to zero - Iran adviser

ANKARA (Reuters) - An adviser to Iran's oil minister said on Tuesday that expected U.S. sanctions on Iran's energy sector could not reduce the country's oil sale to zero because of high demand levels in the market, state TV reported.

"Considering the high demand and low supply in the market, America's sanctions cannot drop Iran's oil sale to zero ... Other oil producers cannot replace Iran's oil," said Moayyed Hosseini Sadr, an adviser to Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran and announced sanctions against OPEC member Iran. Washington is pushing allies to cut imports of Iranian oil to zero and will impose a new round of sanctions on Iranian oil sales in November.

It is also encouraging other oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, other OPEC members and Russia, to pump more to meet any shortfall.

However, Washington said this month that it would consider waivers for Iranian oil buyers such as India but that such buyers would eventually have to halt imports.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal, most international sanctions against Tehran were lifted in 2016 in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear programme.

Iran is currently the third-largest producer in OPEC.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Jason Neely)