"No purchase has been made of petrol since last month," Mirkazemi was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying.

It reported him as saying Iran's daily petrol production had reached 66.5 million litres per day, more than the national requirement of 64 million litres.

On September 7, Mirkazemi said that Iran had now reached "self-sufficiency" in petrol production, adding that previously it produced 44 million litres a day and imported 20 million litres in order to meet domestic need.

On Saturday, Mirkazemi said any new imports of petrol would help to boost the country's domestic reserves.

Iran recently launched an emergency plan aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in petrol production by the end of the current Iranian year to March 20, 2011.

Prior to that, Tehran said its target was to meet its own refined fuel needs by 2012.

Iran, which is the second-largest oil producer in the OPEC oil cartel and holds around 10 percent of world oil reserves, has been highly dependent on petrol imports because its lack of refining capacity.

Imported petrol was targeted in the latest round of sanctions imposed on Iran by world powers over its programme of uranium enrichment, which world powers fear is cover for a nuclear weapons project, a charge Tehran denies.

Ahead of the June sanctions imposed by UN Security Council, several Western companies including Total, Shell, and Vitol stopped supplying petrol to the Islamic republic.

Since then, Iran has relied on Turkish and Chinese companies to meet its daily domestic demand of 64 million litres of petrol, and Russia has also said it is ready to supply fuel to the energy-hungry country.

earlier related report
US, world powers to hold talks on Iran next week
Washington (AFP) Sept 17, 2010 - The United States and five other world powers which are seeking to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions will hold talks next week on the sidelines of the the UN General Assembly, officials said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to join her counterparts from Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany at a meeting next Wednesday in New York, Clinton's spokesman Philip Crowley said.

"We would anticipate a leader at the ministerial level, plus the political directors," Crowley told reporters.

He said attending the meeting will be William Burns, the US undersecretary for political affairs, and his counterparts from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, a grouping known as the P5-plus-one.

In June, the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, which the West fears masks a drive to build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies the charge.

Amid a wave of new international concern over Iran's activities, the United States, Britain and France said Wednesday that more countries must report on how they are implementing the four rounds of sanctions.

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