He made the remarks during his first press conference on Monday following his victory in the election.

Answering the question “what do you have to say to the US and Europe?”, the President-elect said he frankly advised the US to return to the JCPOA and fulfill its commitment because this is the demand of the Iranian nation.

He also said that the Iranian nation conveyed a message of unity and solidarity via their participation in the June 18 presidential elections.

“We emphasize that the US government should be sincere towards its commitments while noting that the regional and missile issues are not negotiable,” Raisi added.

During the remarks, Raisi also said the massive turnout of the elections happened despite the heavy psychological warfare by the enemies who tried to discourage people.

He said people queued to cast their votes in ballot boxes for hours despite their unhappiness about certain economic conditions.

The President-elect further stressed that people voted for change in this presidential election and said their presence sent out different messages.

He said the votes conveyed a message of national unity and solidarity and also the need for a change in their economic situation and living conditions.

They also called for fighting corruption, poverty, discrimination, and, in one word, administering justice for all walks of life.

Iran’s foreign policy not to be limited to JCPOA

Noting that the large turnout of people for the presidential elections has changed the scenario, President-elect Raisi said that the policy pursued by former US administration to exert “maximum pressure” on the Iranian people has failed to work.

The Iranian president-elect said that the US officials have to reconsider their policies towards Iran.

The foreign policy of the new Iranian government will neither begin with nor be limited to negotiations over the revival of a 2015 Iran nuclear deal (known as JCPOA), Raisi said.

“We will pursue engagement with all countries of the world as a principle and a broad and balanced interaction in foreign policy,” he added.

Iran does not favor negotiation for negotiation’s sake

He said that his government will support any negotiation which will ensure the interests of the Iranian nation.

He, however, noted that he will not favor negotiations for the sake of negotiations and will not tie the economy and the living conditions of people to the negotiations.

Top domestic priorities of Raisi government

“Our priorities in this government will be to improve the business situation and improve the living conditions of the people,” the president-elect said.

He said that dealing with the issues of employment and housing will be the first steps that his government will take.

Raisi noted that liquidity in the country must be managed and go to production.

198 correspondents from Iranian media and press as well as 182 journalists who represented 113 foreign media took part in the press conference.

On Saturday, Raisi registered his victory in the June 18 presidential election by winning 17,926,345 votes out of a total of 28,933,004 ballots.

Other candidates Mohsen Rezaei Mirqaed, Abdolnaser Hemmati, and Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh won 3,412,712 and 2,427,201 and 999,718 votes, respectively, according to the interior minister.

Shortly after the early results were out, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei urged the president-elect and those elected as village and city councilors in Friday’s nationwide elections to take the chance to serve the Iranian nation.

In a message, published as the results of Friday elections were out, Ayatollah Khamenei also hailed the massive turnout of people in the elections.

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Khan made the remarks in an online meeting with Tehran mayor Pirouz Hanachi on Friday.

Referring to the conditions imposed on Iran by U.S. sanctions, Khan said: “In meetings with the British government officials, I would tell them about the problems of Tehran in relation to sanctions and I hope that this problem will be solved soon.”

Hanachi for his part noted that Iran is fighting coronavirus and sanctions at the same time, adding “Despite the pandemic, start-up businesses have been activated in Iran and many services were provided in person before the outbreak, are now done online and on virtual networks.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Hanachi said that in the global crisis, countries usually put aside their differences and problems and try to help each other so that the situation does not get worse.

To many of us urban administrators in Iran, the onslaught of coronavirus has underscored an important fact of life: no town, city or nation can be indifferent to global crises, even in far-flung corners of our world, Hanachi told The Guardian on April 4.

Indeed, while the mantra of good governance over the past century has been to “think global, act local”, we must today think and act both locally and globally.

Doubtless, there are things that we could do differently, like every country in the world. But we are operating against the backdrop of the most extreme sanctions regime in history.

The US embargo not only prohibits American companies and individuals from conducting lawful trade with Iranian counterparts, but given that the sanctions are extra-territorial, all other countries and companies are also bullied into refraining from doing legitimate business with Iranians, even the selling of medicines.

This unjust treatment of Iran has come about via the policies of one country – the United States – whose ruling administration does not seem to prioritize even its own national interests, but instead the narrow interests of a governing party. The outcome of such irresponsible policies and behavior is not limited to Iran; they have also inflicted harm on the American public.

In order to better confront these new global crises, there is a need for politicians to realize that the path to pursuing national interests is not separate or contrary to that of global interests and international accountability.

The world cannot go on like this. If global leaders fail to seize the opportunity to embrace change, we will all continue to remain highly vulnerable to communicable diseases, environmental catastrophes, global warming, terrorism, violent extremism and other shared threats.

Health Minister Saeed Namaki has said that the daily death toll and positive cases of coronavirus in Iran have dropped respectively to one third over the course of three weeks, which is a source of honor for the country amid the tough sanctions.

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The Iranian diplomat told Iranian reporters based in the United Nations that Iran is unable to provide medical and emergency supplies and the best use of its medical capacities owing to the illegal sanctions imposed on the country.

Iran has called on the United Nations Secretary-General to take initiative for removing the sanctions as an international task, he said, adding that over eight states have recently sent a letter to the Secretary-General calling for lifting the sanctions, saying that the sanctions are in total disregard of the international law.

It is becoming evident that sanctions policy is a failed policy, he said noting that its supporters are in isolation.

The US administration says that trade on food, medicine, agricultural and medical products is excluded from sanctions; whereas, in practice, cut-off of SWIFT Interbank Telecom link of Central Bank of Iran has made impossible to open up Letters of Credit LCs for medical supplies and respiratory aids.

The outbreak of dangerous coronavirus (COVID-19) has been affecting the world for a number of months requiring collective campaign of the international community to thwart the threat posed to humanity by the pandemic.

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The record was gained amid US President Donald Trump’s threats to pull out of the deal that was struck between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries to curb parts of Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for eased sanctions on the OPEC member’s vital economic sectors.

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) exported an average of 2.877 million barrels per day of crude oil and gas condensate during the month to Asian and European markets which was an unprecedented figure since implementation of the JCPOA.

Iran’s traditional oil customers, China, India, South Korea and Japan, bought over 60% of its petroleum cargoes during the month.

China and India alone imported roughly 1.4 mbd from Iran during the month.

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According to the Customs statistics, petrochemicals export with exclusion of gas condensates had 8 percent decrease with amount of around 15 billion dollars, Kamali Ardakani said.

Volume of minerals and mining industry products export reached 7.5 billion dollars, showing 14 percent growth, he added.

Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade for export affairs Mojtaba Khosrotaj said in the meeting that given to created capacities, it is predictable that this year Iran has around 1.5 billion dollars increase in mine sector and 6.5 billion dollars increase in petrochemicals export.

Jump in Petchem Output, Exports

The removal of international sanctions on Iran in the aftermath of the implementation of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), once more tempted international companies and foreign investors to step into Iran which sits atop huge oil, gas and petrochemical deposits.

The JCPOA allows Iran to forge a new alliance with the West, which would benefit both sides. Such alliance would further interact through trade, investment and negotiations for the development of oil, gas and petrochemical projects. Now that the way has been cleared for investors and proprietors of technology to step into Iran, everybody is preoccupied with development in the shadow of the existing calm atmosphere.

Iran’s National Petrochemical Company (NPC), a subsidiary of Iran’s Ministry of Petroleum, has already embarked on activities to that end. Iran is currently producing at least 60 million tons a day of petrochemicals. In the meantime, more than 60 petrochemical projects left from the third, fourth and fifth national development plans are under operation.

Once the foregoing projects come online, Iran will see its petrochemical output double. A review of petrochemical production in Iran over past two decades indicates two periods of hike in production in 2006 and 2010.

According to the official data, Iran’s petrochemical production stood at around 10.8 million tons in 1997, which jumped to 18.3 million tons in 2006 and 42.6 million tons in 2010. According to projections, the output is expected to reach 53.4 million tons in the coming years.

The NPC data shows that petrochemical production in Mahshahr, Assaluyeh and other areas of Iran stood at 19.5 and 22.9, respectively and 11 million tons during the calendar year 1396 which ended on March 20.

A total of 53.4 million tons of petrochemicals were supplied by 51 petrochemical plants operating in Iran. That represents only 84% of Iran’s rated petrochemical production capacity.

Acting manager of production control at NPC Qodratollah Farajpour said feedstock shortages, technical and processing malfunction were to blame for the non-supply of 13 million tons of additional petrochemicals. He said that feedstock shortages were responsible for 6 million tons and technical malfunctions for 7.4 million tons. Farajpour said such restrictions needed to be minimized so that existing production capacities would be used. Furthermore, Iran’s petrochemical storage capacity currently stands at three million tons.

The value of products depends on a variety of factors including supply, demand, oil price and mix of products. If the average price for each tone of petrochemicals is assumed at $543, Iran’s petrochemical exports were on the decline from 2011 to 2017 due to oil price crash. In 2011, Iran exported 17 million tons of petrochemicals for $14 million, while in 2017, Iran’s petrochemical exports reached 21 million tons for only $11 million.

In terms of weight, the products included mainly methanol, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and urea fertilizer, which were priced respectively at $370, $380 and $210 per ton. Nonetheless, manufacturing more valuable products including polymers (polyethylene at $1,400 per ton) and Karoun Petrochemical Plant’s products (MDI at $2,800 per ton) could boost the value of petrochemical sales.

The 2011- 2017 period experienced a sharp decline in petrochemical exports in 2013 due to tough international sanctions imposed on Iran. The country saw its petrochemical exports sharply fall from 17.8 million tons in 2011 to 12.8 million tons in 2013. Thanks to the , Iran’s annual petrochemical exports have reached 21.5 million tons.

In Farajpour’s view, the growth perspective and the improvement in the rated production capacity of existing units indicate that due to the increased ethane production in the South Pars phases in coming years, the olefin units of Assaluyeh would move to enhance their ethylene production capacity through filling up their vacant capacities.

Fanavaran Petrochemical Plant hopes to reach its rated methanol production capacity by improving its installations, while Amir Kabir Petrochemical Plant plans to boost its rated olefin production capacity. Takht-e Jamshid Petrochemical Plant eyes building its second PBR production unit while Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant is investing in a new olefin unit. The methanol unit of Kaveh Petrochemical Plant, with a rated capacity of 2.3 million tons a year, is close to becoming operational. It will start production this year or next year.

Furthermore, the methanol unit of Marjan Petrochemical Plant, with a rated production capacity of 1.65 million tons a year, is to come on-stream in coming months.

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Iran Air will take delivery of two ATR 72-600s at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport on Friday.

Two ATR72-600 aircrafts will be shipped into Homa Airlines by Iranian pilots after the grand tests in French city of Toulouse.

Iran Air CEO is scheduled to travel to France on Tuesday, to finalize necessary documents regarding the two airplanes.

Iran is gradually receiving the passenger planes purchased from Airbus, ATR , and Boeing, following the implementation of the JCPOA.

Back in April 2017, Iran Air signed a contract with ATR to buy 20 planes from turboprop maker ATR.

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The contracts were signed in the Austrian capital of Vienna by an Iranian banking delegation which included representatives of 14 domestic banks headed by Mohammad Khazaei, the president of the Organization for Investment Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran. Deputy Head of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) for Foreign Exchange Affairs Ahmad Araqchi was also a member of the delegation.

The first major finance deal worth €1 billion was signed on Thursday between Austria’s Oberbank and a dozen Iranian banks. The Austrian bank thus became one of the first European financial institutions to break the ice in providing loans for Iranian projects following the removal of Western sanctions in early 2016.

Oberbank, Austria’s seventh-biggest bank, with a balance sheet of roughly €20 billion ($24 billion), signed the deal with 14 Iranian banks at its headquarters in Linz.

President of the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran Mohammad Khazaei (2nd L) and Oberbank’s Chief Executive Franz Gasselsberger (2nd R) attend a press conference following the signing of a major finance deal between 14 Iranian banks and the Austrian bank in Vienna on September 21, 2017.

The move was groundbreaking particularly given that many banks — mainly those from Europe — are still standing away from Iran’s funding prospects over fears that they may fall afoul of remaining US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Officials in Tehran are hoping that this would set the stage for similar moves by other European banks in the near future.

The Iranian signatories included veteran private banks such as Parsian Bank, Saman Bank, Eqtesad Novin Bank, Bank Parargad, Karafarin Bank and the newly established Middle East Bank. Others were former state banks that were privatized over the past few years such as Bank Melli Iran, Bank Mellat, Bank Sepah, Tejarat Bank, Bank of Industry and Mine, Export Development Bank of Iran, Refah Bank and Keshavarzi Bank.

The agreement which envisages a funding ceiling of €1 billion covers projects by Austrian companies in Iran’s production and development projects lasting more than two years.

Speaking on the sidelines of the signing ceremony, Oberbank’s Chief Executive Franz Gasselsberger said, “Today was a great day in the two countries’ relations as this was the first finance deal between a European bank and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although the negotiations on the deal took long for several months, the outcome was quite favorable and satisfying for both sides.”

He added the contract will prepare the ground for Austrian companies and industries in different sectors, particularly health and infrastructure, to invest in Iranian projects and export products and modern technologies to the Middle Eastern state.

“In case on some day in the future, we look back at this day, we will realize that this contract has served as a turning point for the two sides to deepen their relations.”

Gasselsberger said Iran’s economy, in addition to those in Austria and other European countries, is extremely attractive for the entire world as the Middle Eastern state has a hardworking and smart young generation that can create great opportunities for their own country and other nations.

“There must be a win-win situation for Iran and international companies. Nevertheless, we should not forget about political aspects.”

Earlier in September, Gasselsberger told Reuters that the agreement covered projects by Austrian companies in areas that were previously under sanctions.

“We have very concrete projects in the fields of infrastructure, rail, health, hospital construction, factory building, photovoltaics, hydro power,” he had stressed.

Export credit guarantees covering 99 percent of a project’s volume will be provided by the Oesterreichische Kontrollbank, the main Austrian body that issues them, Reuters added.

“The sticking point was obtaining an additional guarantee from the Iran,” Gasselsberger said. “We negotiated with the Iranian central bank but the guarantee is evidently coming from the Iranian Finance Ministry.”

President of the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran Mohammad Khazaei (C) at the signing ceremony of a finance deal worth €500 million with representatives (R) of Denmark’s Danske Bank in Vienna on September 21, 2017.

Deal with Denmark’s Danske

The other finance contract, very similar to the one with the Austrian bank, was also signed on Thursday, between the Iranian team and Denmark’s Danske Bank.

The deal is worth €500 million and sees 10 Iranian banks on the receiving end. Following the contract the Danish bank became the second European lender to ink such an agreement with Iran.

The Iranian signatories to the agreement were Saman Bank, Bank Mellat, Tejarat Bank, Bank Melli Iran, Bank of Industry and Mine, Bank Sepah, Bank Pasargad, Eqtesad Novin Bank, Keshavarzi Bank, and Parsian Bank.

They will act as the agent banks, providing civil projects in Iran with the Danish fund, according to an announcement by the website of the Central Bank of Iran.

Danske Bank, founded in 1871 and headquartered in Copenhagen, is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the northern European region with over five million retail customers. It was number 454 on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2011.

MoU on infrastructural projects

In addition, the Iranian delegation also signed an MoU late on Thursday with the EKF Bank of Denmark to finance infrastructural projects in Iran.

The memo will make it possible to finance Iranian projects in various sectors later.

The deals with Oberbank and Danske came on the heels of a similar move between China’s CITIC Group and a consortium of Iranian banks to provide loans worth a collective of $10 billion for the country’s infrastructure projects.

Iran had also in late August secured an €8-billion credit line from South Korea’s Eximbank — what was seen as the country’s biggest loan deal since the removal of sanctions against it in early 2016.

Accordingly, officials in Seoul said the deal would finance projects in Iran by companies from South Korea.

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“There is bad news and good news,” believes Chris Cook, a strategic market consultant, who also formerly headed the International Petroleum Exchange.

“The bad news is that the Trump administration is intent on making Iranian access to dollars — whether dollar payments or dollar investment via equity funding or debt financing — to all intents and purposes impossible, notwithstanding anything in the JCPOA,” Cook said responding to Trend query regarding the Islamic Republic’s capability to draw foreign investment to renew the country’s oil and gas industry.

“The good news is that it is completely possible for trillions of dollars worth of investment to be made in Iran and in neighboring countries without using dollars at all. This is because accounting/pricing — or keeping score — of transactions in dollars is very different from using the dollar clearing system to repay dollar debts or repatriate dollar profits on investment,” he added.

Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has in recent years been engaged in updating the long-standing ‘Energy Diplomacy’, developed during the former president Mohammad Khatami’s administration, Cook reminded, adding that this ‘smart energy policy’ instrument consisted of energy swaps, such as the Caspian oil swap (flows of Caspian crude oil into northern Iran, exchanged for flows of crude oil delivered out of the Persian Gulf).

“In addition to reactivation of these and similar swaps, perhaps the most remarkable — and most important — ‘Energy Diplomacy’ was the recently contracted South Pars 11 investment by Total, through which 20 years’ investment of technology, skills and experience will be swapped for a flow of condensate. The outcome is firstly a ‘smart swap’ of intellectual value for the value of carbon fuels, and secondly, through the participation of Chinese investors the deal provides 20 years’ security of condensate demand for Iran and 20 years’ security of condensate supply for China,” Cook suggested.

“The point is that such smart swaps will — within a suitable networked market platform or ‘energy clearing union’ — enable many hundred billion dollars worth of intellectual and other resources required by Iran to be swapped for many hundred billion dollars worth of carbon fuels supplied by Iran.

“Since such swaps do not take place on the oil market platform dominated by the US, they do not require settlement in dollars through the US dollar clearing system from which Iran is effectively excluded.”

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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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The deal is the Islamic Republic’s first with a European oil company in more than a decade, marking a major milestone for a country whose standing as an international trade partner has hung in the balance ever since it was slapped with sanctions in 2006 amid concerns that it was developing nuclear weapons.

Total has taken a 50.1 percent interest in the South Pars project, and alongside state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, which holds 30 percent, and Iran’s Petropars (19.9 percent), will begin producing gas for the Iranian market from 2021.

Though the deal has been a slow burn, coming some 18 months after EU sanctions against the Middle Eastern nation were lifted, Iran will be hoping that it marks a new era of investor confidence and a particular boon for its dwindling oil production.

“Total’s decision to sign the South Pars 11 contract is a cautiously positive sign for foreign investment in Iran’s upstream,” Richard Mallinson, geopolitical analyst at Energy Aspects, told CNBC via email on Monday.

Who else is ready to invest in Iran?

Already, India, one of Iran’s most steadfast trading partners, on Monday announced that a consortium of domestic businesses would offer up to $11 billion to develop another of Iran’s natural gas fields, Farzad-B field, and create the infrastructure to export the fuel, Bloomberg reported, quoting Narendra Kumar Verma, managing director of the overseas investment unit of India’s largest explorer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC). / Farzad B gas field, Persian Gulf

Iran is the second-largest supplier of crude oil to India, and, as a result, India is one of the largest foreign investors in Iran’s oil and gas industry. However, fraught diplomatic relations between Iran and other states have made it a difficult relationship to uphold.

Under US sanctions, which were reinforced last month, India has been unable to trade with Iran using the dollar — the world’s premier reserve currency — and had to defer payments or revert to payments in rupees and, more recently, euros.

Iran has the world’s largest natural gas reserves and the fourth-largest oil reserves, according to the US Energy Information Administration. This translates to 10 percent of the world’s crude oil reserves and 13 percent of OPEC’s.

Why is Total doing the deal now?

Total was previously one of the biggest investors in Iran before sanctions were imposed. Though the deal was laid out last year, the group has been awaiting clarity on the Trump administration’s stance on sanctions.

During campaigning, President Donald Trump pledged to ‘dismantle’ the 2015 nuclear agreement, which aimed to reduce sanctions, though has not yet followed up on it.

Total has so far only committed to an initial $1 billion investment, citing continued risks. The stock was up 1.78 percent when the deal was signed Monday.

Though the investment will help revive Iran’s antiquated energy sector, which has borne the brunt of years of under-investment into the country, it will be purely domestically focused.

It is likely to have less of an impact on the wider international markets, which have been struggling to balance output since a supply glut saw prices plummet in early 2015.

Brent prices were lower by 0.06 percent in Monday afternoon at $48.75 per barrel while US crude was up 0.09 percent at $46.08 per barrel.

Lack of new deals holding back growth

Indeed, while companies including Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s Eni have signed provisional agreements with Iran, according to the FT, the path ahead to recovering Iran’s energy sector looks far from smooth.

“Other developments are not so positive,” said Mallinson, citing Azadegan, another Iranian oilfield project which has suffered continued delays amid uncertainties over Iran’s trading future.

“The tender for the Azadegan oilfield was supposed to be imminent but was then pushed back by three or four months to give foreign companies more time for analysis. This suggests that the major firms that Tehran really wants to attract are largely not ready to commit to Iran deals.

“Currently Iran’s oil production has flat-lined and each new delay to the return of foreign investors pushes back the timeline for further growth in output,” Mallinson added.

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