Speaking in a live TV program, Nahavandian elaborated on the government’s relief package to help the poor families, small businesses and the private sector suffering from the economic consequences of coronavirus.

He referred to tourism and transportation as two sectors which have been damaged seriously after the outbreak of coronavirus, saying the businesses in tourism sector can see boom in summer.

He noted that the Government has requested one billion euro from National Development Fund of Iran to spend in the context of the relief package.

Stressing the significant position of Iran in IMF and Iranian membership in IMF’s board of directors, Nahavandian said that Iran has written official letter to IMF and it would be Iran’s legal right to enjoy the IMF emergency facility to deal with humanitarian tragedy in Iran.

IMF has earmarked special credit to help thwart the threat posed to international community by coronavirus pandemic and major states back Iranian $5 billion loan bid from IMF emergency facility, but, the US has violated the most primary moral and humanitarian principles, he said.

Some members of the IMF board of directors have taken positive stance toward Iran and some European States have supported Iran, he said, adding that Iran has considerable reserves in various countries but they have not yet been available due to the US sanctions.

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EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell met and held talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday evening in Tehran.

During their meeting, Iranian President said that Iran is fully committed to its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), criticizing the other side’s failure to live up to its commitments and adding, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is still ready to interact and cooperate with the European Union to settle issues.”

He also said that developing relations and cooperation with European countries, as long-standing partners, is always important to Iran, expressing hope that relations further deepen with the efforts of the new EU foreign policy chief.

Referring to the process of efforts that eventually led to the JCPOA over 12 years, the president said, “Unfortunately, the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the agreement created many obstacles and difficulties for other parties to fully implement it.”

Rouhani stated that Iran’s move to reduce its obligations was within the framework of the agreement and to maintain it, adding, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is still fully ready to interact and cooperate with the European Union to settle issues and whenever the other side lives up to its commitments completely, Iran is ready to return to its commitments.”

Condemning US policy toward regional countries, he said, “They have already made a lot of strategic mistakes towards regional countries, including Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan, and their recent move that was done in cooperation with the Zionist Regime under the title of “Deal of the Century” is in accordance with these mistakes and is doomed to fail.”

Rouhani said that today, the region is not in a good condition and terrorism has not yet been fully eradicated from the countries of the region, saying, “America assassinated General Soleimani, who was the leader of fighting terrorism in the region, and this was a tremendous help to the terrorists in the region.”

The President praised the joint efforts of Iran and the European Union to resolve many regional and international issues, saying, “The Islamic Republic of Iran remains committed to the IAEA’s monitoring, the process of which has been continuing to date and it will continue unless we face new conditions.”

EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, for his part, referred to Iran’s influential role in regional affairs and the development of peace, stability and security in the region, saying, “Developing cooperation with Iran has always been important for the EU.”

“I am sorry that the European parties failed to meet their commitments under the JCPOA,” he said, adding that efforts have to be expanded to implement the deal.

Stating that today European countries are seeking to preserve the JCPOA and resolve issues to keep the deal in place, Borrell said, “As the EU’s High Representative, I will do everything in my power to create a robust interaction for saving the JCPOA.”

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Iran prefers to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to distant markets including the EU, but no agreement has yet been reached on the construction of plants for the purpose, reported Trend News Agency.

The country’s sole LNG project, the 52-percent completed ‘Iran LNG’ needs an investment of about $8-10 billion and talks with foreign investors haven’t yielded any results so far.

Last year, Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company Ali Kardor said that Iran is targeting exports of 0.5-2 million metric tons per year (MT/y) of LNG using mini-LNG plants and floating LNG vessels (FLNG) — Iran’s alternative projects to export LNG.

The country has signed memorandum of understandings (MoU) with South Korean Kogas on the development of LNG projects as well as with National Energy Administration of China on developing mini-LNG projects.

However, talks on purchasing or manufacturing floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessels in recent months have so far yielded no results.

Now, Kardor says that Iran’s first deal on the construction of a FLNG facility will soon be signed with a Norwegian company.

The 20-year deal is intended to produce 500,000 tons of LNG, Kardor said on October 10, adding that pricing formula of the products will be determined by the Oil Ministry.

He did not disclose the name of the Norwegian firm, but last year it was announced that Tehran is negotiating with Norwegian Golar and Hemla Vantage companies.

Golar owns one of the largest FLNG fleets in the world, while Hemla Vantage was keen to lease a FLNG vessel from a Belgian company, Exmar, to collect and liquefy flaring gas in offshore fields around Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf (the amount of yearly collection and liquidation of flaring gas in Kharg Island can stand at 0.5 MT).

Launching FLNG and mini-LNG facilities will help Iran diversify and expand its natural gas market.

The projects will also grant the country chance to convert its flaring gas (mostly from burning associated gas in the oil sector), which currently amounted at about 11 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y), into LNG.

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Iran sells crude oil to European companies within the framework of long-term deals and spot cargo, however the volume of spot cargo is higher, an informed source told Fars News Agency.

Iran still encounters problems in receiving payments due to banking issues, the source said, adding that central bank officials are seeking ways to expedite the process.

The source said that Iran also faces the same problem in oil export to Asian countries as banking sanctions still remain in place, the source said.

Iran was exporting 2.5 mbd of crude oil and gas condensate prior to the sanctions which were imposed in 2012, of which 18 percent was supplied to the EU.

After 2012, the EU cut Iran oil purchase while Asian countries had to decrease Iranian oil import gradually, which led to a decline in Iranian oil and gas condensate exports to 1.2 mbd in 2015.

After the removal of sanctions in 2016, based on nuclear agreement, Iran resumed its oil exports.

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New Managing Director of the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) Sirous Kianersi described latest status of oil displacement agreements between NITC and huge European oil companies saying “so far, 35 contracts have been inked with European sides for taking out leases on 35 Iranian tankers.”

The official stated that the 35 lease contracts had been signed with oil giants from various EU states like Greece, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands asserting that the deals were spot contracts which were sealed for transport of crude oil.

He highlighted that Iranian tankers enjoyed highest standards for transference of crude oil in ports and oil terminals of the European Union (EU); “so far, agreements have been signed with majority of European oil firms like Spain’s Cepsa, Italy’s Eni in addition to Greek and Dutch companies.

In view of post-JCPOA conditions and removal of restrictions, more agreements will be sealed with European oil giants for displacement of crude oil, the official reiterated.

Last week, Kianersi had reported on berthing of Iranian oil tankers at EU oil terminals stressing that the first Iranian tanker had tied up at a Spanish socking site.

For the first time ever, an Iranian tanker, which has been lent out to a large Spanish oil company, moored at Algeciras port of the European state.

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Sirous Kianersi added the first NITC tanker leased to a major Spanish oil company docked at the Port of Algeciras just recently, reported IRNA on Wednesday.

More NITC tankers are heading to other European ports, he said, adding two vessels are currently en route to the Netherlands.

NITC is the biggest tanker company in the Middle East and one of the largest in the world with a capacity of 15.5 million tons per year.

Managing Director of Iran’s Port and Maritime Organization Mohammad Saeednejad also said on Wednesday that the lifting of sanctions has allowed Iranian ships to fully resume operations to Asian, European and American ports.

Since October, Iranian VLCCs have reportedly completed 32 voyages delivering around 70 million barrels. China accounted for 13 voyages and India for 12 others.

As many as 17 international shipping lines have resumed their calls at Iranian ports which were deserted by and large during the sanctions, Saeednejad said.

Iranian VLCC fleet, which had been used as floating storage, has started to reappear on international trading routes. Since October, more than 20 NITC-operated VLCCs have returned to the market compared to just 13 in October.

Iran’s oil exports hit 2.04 million barrels per day in November, recovering from a decline of around one million barrels per day during the sanctions. Over the last 12 months, European customers have resumed lifting Iranian crude oil, with France, Spain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Taiwan taking at least one shipment.

According to ship tracking data, the number of Iranian VLCCs in storage has fallen from 16 to 7 units, which equals to a reduction of 20 million barrels. As much as 15 million barrels of crude oil is estimated to remain in floating storage on NITC’s VLCCs — down from an estimated peak of between 40 and 50 million barrels.

On Tuesday, a report said global ship insurers were about to resume near full coverage for Iranian oil exports from next month without involving US-domiciled reinsurers.

Restrictions on US firms handling Iranian goods had greatly limited the number of reinsurers of cargoes, but the new arrangements, which essentially allow re-insurance of ships without the involvement of US firms, should boost the number of eligible shipments, Reuters reported.

“There will be no US-domiciled reinsurer participation on the 2017 IG reinsurance program,” the news agency quoted Andrew Bardot, secretary and executive officer at the International Group (IG) of P&I Clubs in London, as saying.

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The figure was €6.2 billion during January-October 2015, Tasnim news agency reported.

Iran’s exports to the EU stood at €3.9 billion from January to October 2016, quadrupling from €1 billion during the same time span in 2015.

Meanwhile, EU’s exports to Iran increased by 23 percent and reached €6.4 billion from €5.2 billion over the 10-month period.

In April 2016, Iran and the EU issued a joint statement in Tehran setting the road map for cooperation. The statement was released by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini who visited Iran along with seven European commissioners.

The two sides taking stock of their long standing relations, based upon mutual respect and interests, reiterated their intention to develop a broad and comprehensive agenda for bilateral cooperation.

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According to Fars News Agency, Gholam-Hossein Shafeie noted, “Cooperation between the two countries (Iran and Armenia) is of special importance in energy security and in the near future, Iran’s gas can be transferred to Europe via Georgia and Black Sea.”

Shafeie accompanied President Hassan Rouhani’s delegation during the three-nation tour of Central Asia, which included Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan from December 21-23.

He said Iran and Armenia have in recent years been strategic partners in the region.

Iran and Armenia, he noted, can cooperate in the exchange of technical and engineering services as well as in energy, petrochemicals, power transfer, dam building, establishment of factories, mining, agriculture, tourism, particularly eco-tourism and health tourism, cooperation in a third country and cooperation between the small and medium-sized companies.

He suggested the transportation of Armenian goods to other countries, especially China, India and Southeast Asia, via Iran’s Persian Gulf ports.

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Ali Abedzadeh told Mehr News on Thursday that Germany would be the most probable candidate to finance through credits Iran’s prospective plane purchase agreements, with Italy, Ireland, and France possibly as contributors.

“This is the most viable path to provide airlines with much-needed planes and to resuscitate the country’s antiquated fleet; the method is popular around the world in heavy deals such as plane purchase and the Ministry of Roads and Urban Planning had been since long working to secure purchases through this method,” he added.

“4 European countries hailed the initiative by Iran during negotiations; Ireland and Italy enjoy excellent backgrounds in financing international purchases and the CAO will continue keeping contacts with these creditors,” Abedzadeh told Mehr News.

Earlier, Abedzadeh had said in an interview that domestic creditors would also contribute to the international plane purchase agreements, to attract the participation of the private sector and to encourage enterprises in the airline industry.

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In a meeting held on the sidelines of the second phase of high-level talks between Iran and the European Union in the city, Takht-Ravanchi held separate meetings with Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Elmar Brok, and Gianni Brok, president of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, Tasnim News Agency reported.

Following the conclusion of the JCPOA, Europe has the opportunity to shift towards a more constructive approach towards Iran.

During the talks, the senior Iranian diplomat exchanged views with them on a range of issues, including ways to promote relations between Tehran and the European bloc, as well as the latest regional developments.

The Iranian and European officials also stressed the need for development of parliamentary ties between Tehran and the 28-nation bloc.

Takht-Ravanchi was in Brussels to take part in the second phase of talks between Iran and the EU.

On November 9, he and the Secretary General for European External Action Service, Helga Schmid, led the second phase of the talks.

The two sides discussed various topics, including development of cooperation between Iran and the EU states in the fields of economy, business, energy, transportation, environment, education, health, science and natural disasters.

They also exchanged views on the fight against terrorism, combating drug trafficking, and the refugee crisis as well as settlement of the ongoing regional crises in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan.

On the sidelines of the negotiations, the Iranian deputy foreign minister also held a meeting with Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, over expansion of bilateral relations and the latest developments in the region.

The first phase of the talks between Iran and the EU was held in Tehran between Takht-Ravanchi and Schmid in February. The following round of the negotiations is scheduled to be held in Tehran within the next six months.

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