Iran's revenue from oil and gas exports has jumped 60% as Russia's war sends energy prices soaring

• Iran said its export revenues from oil and gas have jumped 60% year-on-year, with Russia's war in Ukraine pushing up prices.
• Despite the tough sanctions on the country, Iran has generated $2.45 billion from exports in the first two months of the year, the ministry said.

Iran has seen revenue from energy exports jump 60% year-on-year in the last two months, thanks to a sharp rise in market prices.

Russian oil ministry official Ali Forouzandeh said the country is seeing a "dramatic" increase in revenues from the sales of oil and related energy products, despite the tough sanctions on the country, Shana reported Sunday.

Forouzandeh told the state news agency that revenues for the first two months of the calendar year, which began March 21, were $2.45 billion. That compares with $1.5 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February has pushed global energy prices up sharply. The UK and US have banned oil imports from Russia. Hungary has opposed the European Union's plan to do the same, but many Western companies are "self-sanctioning."

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, traded at around $116 per barrel Monday, up roughly 50% since the start of the year.

The rise in energy prices has eased some of the financial pain of sanctions slapped on Russia, and has helped Moscow generate foreign currency.

It has also benefited Iran, despite its own tough Western sanctions that limit the country's ability to sell its oil. The latest sanctions were put in place by President Donald Trump, after the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.

"The receipt of revenues from the export of oil, gas condensate, natural gas, petroleum products and petrochemical products in the first two months of this year has increased dramatically compared to the same period last year," Forouzandeh said, according to Shana.

Saudi Arabia has also received a boost, with oil exports reaching a six-year high of $30 billion in March alone, according to the country's statistics office.