No Obstacles to US Firms’ Investment in Iran

"The post-sanction atmosphere has created new economic and political conditions which should be used by major trade, economic and industrial firms," Rouhani said in New York on Friday evening on the sideline of the UN General Assembly meeting.

He further expressed the confidence that the obstacles placed by the US administration on the way of the American companies' investment in Iran would not remain in place.

"Tehran doesn’t has not impeded the presence of the US firms, and these companies can also use the competitive atmosphere resulted from the post-sanction conditions for investment and transferring technology to Iran," Rouhani said.

Under the terms of the nuclear deal reached in July between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany), President Barack Obama's administration will terminate the sanctions against Iran in exchange for a curb on Tehran's nuclear activities for a ten-year period.

Earlier this month, an Iranian energy economist said, the local oil industry has appealing features for foreigners who, considering the conditions in the wake of nuclear deal, have kept their hopes of investment in the Islamic Republic alive.

“In the post-sanctions era, there are apt opportunities for Petroleum Ministry to materialize its oil industry development projects,” Mehran Amir-Moeini said.

According to the fellow researcher at the Tehran-based Institute for International Energy Studies (IIES), cooperation and interaction of the Petroleum Ministry and other responsible bodies cooperating with the ministry could facilitate attraction of foreign capital to the industry.

Saying that cost of construction of production units in the oil industry had been halved, the energy expert added that national determination was needed to launch new oil projects in the country with the investment of foreigners.

The negotiations' process with foreign investors, he suggested, has to be cut down to boost development projects.