The fight over letting foreigners into Iran's oilfields

摘要

Told to increase oil production, but prevented by sanctions from doing business with American firms, Bijan Zan-ganeh, Iran's oil minister, has spent the past four years trying to do business with European and Far Eastern companies. Recently, he has had some success: he has now won deals that could add an extra 700,000 barrels of oil every day to the 3.7m barrels a day currently produced in Iran. Twice in the past two weeks, by signing agreements with Italian and Japanese companies, he has exposed the futility of American efforts to dissuade non-American companies from investing in Iran's energy. Yet Mr Zanganeh remains unloved at home. Protection-minded compatriots claim he is handing a vital resource to untrustworthy foreigners, and a senior cleric promises to expose corrupt energy deals.