President hails JCPOA achievements, oil diplomacy

EghtesadOnline: President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday one of the rights restored to the Iranian nation following the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was the right to produce and export oil with no limit.

News ID: ۷۴۰۲۴۳

08 March 2017

Under the pre-JCPOA sanctions against Iran, “we were obliged to sell our oil only to certain countries with a specific quota, but today we have the choice to sell our oil to any country that is to buy it,” said the President while addressing a group of the Iranian lawyers during a ceremony to mark the 64th anniversary of establishment of Iran’s Bar Association, according to IRNA.

“We were forced to receive our oil money under specific conditions; some portion in certain currencies and some in the national currency of the purchasing country. Today we are no longer obliged to do so. The Iranian nation has regained its right to get its oil money in any way it wishes,” said the President.

Noting that Iran has currently doubled its oil production and exports comparing the pre-JCPOA era, President Rouhani said that Iran’s share in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been taken by other countries when the Iranian nation’s right was taken away in the wake of oppressive sanctions against the country.

“Today the right has been restored to the nation,” President Rouhani said, adding that he is thankful to the country’s oil officials that defended the Iranians rights at OPEC in an appropriate way through their “oil diplomacy”.

Responding to those who complain about the outcomes of the landmark nuclear deal signed in 2015 between Iran and the world six major powers (the US, Britain, Russia, France and China plus Germany), President Rouhani said, “The outcomes of the JCPOA are that we are free today to produce and export oil, purchase whatever we need from any country, do our international business through banking system, export our petrochemical products as well as precious metals and have free transport and shipping.”

“These were the rights of the Iranian nation,” said the President stressing that rights should be restored only by legal experts and lawyers.

“A nation needs prominent and well-experienced lawyers, if it wants to feel security in its social rights,” said the President.

He added that lawyers should have independence in their job as much as a judge does.