Major challenges crippled Iran’s oil and petrochemical industry two months after launching a plan to boost exports, Tasnim news agency reported adding that the setback was a result of sparring between Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.
Citing lawmaker Fadel Abu Torabi, Tasnim reported on Zanganeh having disputes with both Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Zarif, especially over critical remarks on the oil minister for not complying with diplomatic efforts backed by the administration and siding with the country’s hardliners.
“We have recently learned that Zanganeh, in addition to his disagreement with President Hassan Rouhani, has differences with the foreign minister,” Torabi said, explaining that “differences are due to criticism from Rouhani accusing Zanganeh and the oil ministry of not investing the diplomatic achievement made by the Foreign Ministry and the diplomatic agency with landing the nuclear agreement.”
Torabi reaffirmed also that the disagreement between the two top ministers mainly revolved around the nuclear deal signed with the West and the presence of Asian companies.
“One of the issues of disagreement between the foreign minister and the oil minister is the former’s belief that Zanganeh and oil ministry staffers are not interested in the presence of Asian and Oriental companies in the Iranian petrochemical and oil markets,” Abu Torabi said.
It is worth noting that Zarif’s office has been regularly challenged by discrepancies acted upon by conservatives.
Last February, Rouhani had officially rejected the resignation of Zarif.
The reason behind Zarif’s resignation was that he was not told about Syrian regime head Bashar Al-Assad paying a visit to Tehran at the time.
