ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iranian oil minister has said his country is afraid to share details of its energy development contracts currently under negotiation because of internal and external pressure that could jeopardize them.
Bijan Zangeneh told reporters on Sunday there are 150 people from the Iranian side who are negotiating energy contracts, but he warned there are "some" inside and outside the country who are working to derail the agreements.
"We dare not announce the name of the contract that is about to be concluded because we are afraid that they [internal and external opponents] may do something to stop it from being signed," Zangeneh said, according to ISNA news agency.
The minister did not elaborate what that “something” might be.
Iran has been trying to attract hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of foreign investment for its energy sector, following the landmark Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) signed in 2015 with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
The deal provided sanctions relief in return for limiting Iran's nuclear activities.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the deal be scrapped or modified, a call that has fallen on deaf ears among other signatories, including European Union partners France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Trump faces his own domestic hurdles with the deal, as he called it “the worst deal ever” — making it a central theme of his presidential campaign. Despite his party’s control of both chambers of the US legislature, he has reauthorized the deal every three months since assuming office in January 2017.
Bijan Zangeneh told reporters on Sunday there are 150 people from the Iranian side who are negotiating energy contracts, but he warned there are "some" inside and outside the country who are working to derail the agreements.
"We dare not announce the name of the contract that is about to be concluded because we are afraid that they [internal and external opponents] may do something to stop it from being signed," Zangeneh said, according to ISNA news agency.
The minister did not elaborate what that “something” might be.
Iran has been trying to attract hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of foreign investment for its energy sector, following the landmark Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) signed in 2015 with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
The deal provided sanctions relief in return for limiting Iran's nuclear activities.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the deal be scrapped or modified, a call that has fallen on deaf ears among other signatories, including European Union partners France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Trump faces his own domestic hurdles with the deal, as he called it “the worst deal ever” — making it a central theme of his presidential campaign. Despite his party’s control of both chambers of the US legislature, he has reauthorized the deal every three months since assuming office in January 2017.
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