Iran stands ready to negotiate oil supplies with Belarus, including in terms of price that can be below the world average, Iranian Ambassador in Minsk Saeed Yari said in an interview with Sputnik Belarus.

"Iran is an oil exporting country. It is only natural if we negotiate oil supplies with Belarus, too. It is a purely commercial matter. Are are ready to cover Belarus' demand of oil and petrochemicals," Yari said, Sputnik reports.

The ambassador recalled that Iran and Belarus have once conducted pilot transfers of oil and said that it should be a question to be considered outside of the political context.

"If our Belarusian friends are interested in these supplies, we are ready to launch negotiations.

And we are ready to sell at a convenient price, perhaps even lower than the global average. It depends on the Belarusian government's decision, whether they are ready to buy oil from us," the diplomat said.

Starting January 1, Russia stopped pumping oil to Belarus, and even though supplies partially recovered, Minsk intensified efforts for finding alternatives to the Russian oil. Among potential importers, Belarus considers Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic countries, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

On January 26, Belarus received the first shipment of oil from Norway, counting 35 tankers with about 3,500 tonnes of oil.