Iran can manage its economy even without crude exports, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed on Tuesday, April 10 as Tehran cut off oil sales to Greece, the third European nation to be hit by an Iranian retaliatory measure ahead of EU's oil embargo, according to The Associated Press.

Iran had warned in February that it may extend an earlier embargo imposed on Britain and France to other European countries, after the EU set a ban on Iranian oil over the country's controversial nuclear program. The EU ban is to go into effect in July. The West suspects Iran is pursuing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi announced the halt in sales to Greece on Tuesday, saying that "for the time being, Iran is not selling oil to Greece."

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad lambasted international measures against Iran. "They — the West — intend to impose an embargo on our oil," he said during a visit to southern province of Hormozgan. "We have as much hard currency as we need and the country will manage well, even if we don't sell a single barrel of oil for two or three years," he insisted. The speech was carried live on state TV.

Iran, the second largest producer in OPEC, exports some $80 billion oil per year. The amount matches some 80 percent of its foreign revenue and some 60 percent of its annual budget.

In Hormozgan, Ahmadinejad said that despite international pressure on his nation, Iran had increased revenue from non-oil exports to some $45 billion in 2011, from an average of $6.8 billion in the previous years.

In his speech, Ahmadinejad insisted on what he called Tehran's nuclear rights and warned that "whoever seeks to violate the rights of the Iranian nation will get a blow to the mouth."

The U.S. and its allies have sought to press Iran to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for receiving reactor-ready fuel from abroad. Iran has pushed back by refusing to curtail enrichment, which is permitted under the U.N. treaty overseeing the spread of nuclear technology.