LONDON: Iran's biggest tanker operator, NITC, continues to trade with Asian countries without difficulty despite Western sanctions on the Islamic Republic's oil trade, a senior NITC official said on Tuesday.

Washington and Brussels have put financial measures in place to make it tougher for Iran to pay for and ship oil. Its oil output has sunk to the lowest level in 20 years, cutting revenue that is vital to fund a sprawling state apparatus.

"We can trade with no problems at all everywhere in Asia," a senior NITC official said in an interview.

The official, who declined to be named, added that the company's shipments to Asia were not affected.

In April, shipping sources had said Iran had been forced to deploy more than half its fleet to store oil at anchorage in the Gulf as buyers of its crude cut back because of sanctions.

"It is not many," the NITC official said, referring to tankers storing Iranian crude oil. AGENCIES