He said these countries will receive licenses as virtual operators if they are approved for work in Iran.

Virtual operators are the ones which lack physical apparatus for dispatching voice messages and data. They sign contracts with a company which possesses such facilities and then resell it in retailer market under their own brand name.

Talking to IRNA, the minister said the domestic companies that are interested in this kind of activities should submit their credentials to the ministry to get the needed licenses.

Saying that post-sanctions conditions have paved the way for new ventures, Vaezi said three foreign companies have already started negotiations with Iranian operators the result of which will be announced soon.

As declared prior to the visit to Italy, SWIFT can start operation on Sunday, he said adding that ‘I would like to officially announce that SWIFT will be connected on Monday but it will require one or two days for the Iranian banks to install and run the system.’
Nine Iranian banks which lacked SWIFT will join SWIFT on Monday but other Iranian banks which were not under sanctions continued operation after implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he said.
There will be no obstacle in opening of letter of credits for Iranian banks, underlined the CBI governor.

He told reporters that development projects in affiliated companies of the Mobarakeh Steel Group were planned and that progressing trend of JCPOA pushed the group to start negotiations with foreign sides one year earlier.
Sobhani said that although finance resources are provided by foreign sides, domestic contractors will be involved in the projects.
He also announced about 66 percent of the group’s production was exported to European countries in the past 10 months and that in steel export arena, China is its main rival.
Sobhani stressed that in the past 10 months of the current year also 27 percent of its production had been exported to the Middle Eastern countries.
He said that the steel group is the largest industrial consumer of electricity and gas in the country.
The group is consuming 29 million cubic liters of water, 6.4 million megawatts of electricity and 9.2 billion cubic meters of gas annually.

Mahmud Vaezi added in a meeting with the press on the sidelines of opening ceremony of a Job Creation Center that the government’s three preconditions for the presence of foreign companies should be to produce credit lines, they should transfer technology to Iran and they should offer markets to the Iranian companies either in their counties’ of origin or in the third countries.
He said that the foreign companies need to observe all the regulations set by the Iranian government in order to ensure their continuous presence in Iran.
Criticizing the argument of the Iranian analysts who argue that just as the West that once sanctioned, Iran should also sanction the Western companies today, Vaezi said that the government is opposed to the mentality.
He added that such critics disregard the country’s national interests, under such conditions that the oil prices keep lowering and the national economy is in need of rapid recovery and fast blossoming.

The TSE’s ongoing surge continued on Monday as the TEPIX jumped more than 1,793 units , standing at 72,912 in the early morning hours.

In the wake of the imminent implementation of a recent nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers (known as the JCPOA), Iran’s main share index increased by 1344 units on Jan 16, 2016, setting a new record after 18 months of depression.

The recent gains in the Tehran Stock Exchange come against the backdrop of the upcoming announcement of JCPOA implementation, after which all nuclear-related anti-Iran sanctions will be terminated.

TSE opened in February 1967. During its first year of activity, only six companies were listed in TSE. Then Government bonds and certain State-baked certificate were traded in the market.

The Tehran Stock Exchange has come a long way. It has evolved into an exciting and growing marketplace where individual and institutional investor trade securities of over 420 companies.

TSE, which is a founding member of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges, is seen as one of the world’s best performing stock exchanges in the years 2002 through 2013.

Talking to reporters on Monday, he said Russian companies are currently keen for imports from Iran especially foodstuff, making it necessary for providing banking facilities to this end.

He said there are no problems on opening of LC credit lines with Russian banks.

He said Iran has already talked to Russian banks in this connection.

The official further noted that a total of dlrs 2.5 billion credit lines has been opened by his bank in the past nine months while the figure stood at dlrs 700 million during the same period last year.

Commenting on Iran-Turkmenistan banking relations, he said Iran imported between two and three billion dollars worth of gas from Turkmenistan.

The German delegation led by the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will meet with Iranian officials of Ministry of Petroleum, according to Shana news website.
Accompanying the delegation are a member of board of directors and deputy executive director and Siemens of Germany.
Siemens withheld equipment for South Pars oil and gas field to complete offshore gas facilities because of sanctions.
Shana said that the German company now decided to supply the equipment.

Ali Ahani said in an interview with the French radio station RTL that president Hassan Rouhani’s recent visit of France had very important objectives in political, economic, and cultural fields.

‘The Iranian president’s visit was actually a green light to the entire political. Economic and cultural sectors indicate that rapid action is required since a very appropriate and satisfactory opportunity has now emerged in which securing both nations’ interests is possible,’ he added.

Referring to the two countries’ historical relations and their shared interests and needs to one another, Ahani said that Iran is an independent country with unique capabilities and potentials, especially in energy field.

‘We welcome the contributions of European partners, especially France and keep in mind that with its 80 million strong population and access to regional markets, the Iranian economy in the post-sanctions era is quite a golden opportunity,’ he said.

Ambassador Ahani added that the French companies enjoy a good status in Iran and the presidential delegation’s visit can be regarded as a positive sign for Iran’s will to give priority to them, especially judged by the good amount of documents signed with the French industries during that visit.

He also referred to Iran’s new policies for working with the French automobile industry giants the Peugeot and Citroen, arguing that in the framework of those policies both countries can benefit greatly from this interaction.

‘Those two French companies are trustworthy partners for the Iranian automobile industries,’ he added.

Chitchian told a press conference that lifting the sanctions prepared the ground for direct foreign investment in water and electricity industry.
Chinese were the sole financier for implementation of the projects in the past years, but today by implementation of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Ministry of Energy received many requests from Europe, Russia, South Korea, China, Japan, Britain, France and Italy for joint venture investment.
Chitchian said that taking delivery of the money from export of technical, engineering services, equipment and electricity was a trouble in the past several years, but, now the money transfer to and from the country is open.
He said that transfer of new technology is another achievement of lifting sanctions and for instance there was no possibility to manufacture class F turbines in the country, but now, Germany and Italy are expected to transfer technology to Iran.
Concerning the impacts of oil price falls on price of electricity export, Chitchian said that some of the contracts already envisaged mechanism dependent on oil price to determine price of electricity, so by the oil price falls they will decrease, but, a number of contracts are not dependent on oil prices.

“The National” wrote that oil companies’ investment this year will be focused on new opportunities in Iran and Mexico as they cut budgets sharply amid continued low oil prices, a new report by industry consultant Wood Mackenzie forecasts.

It noted that “the investment environment overall remains weak, according to Wood Mac, which recently estimated that $380 billion of oil and gas projects had been cancelled or delayed with a further $170bn worth at risk as oil prices plumb depths not reached for more than a decade in the low $30s per barrel.”

“Ageing, high-cost fields and a lack of new investment combine to challenge operators and governments alike,” according to Wood Mac. “But opportunities will exist despite the tough environment – Iran and Mexico both offer new potential and mergers and acquisitions activity is expected to increase.”

Iran last year identified 52 development projects that it will seek investment partners for post-sanctions, and it is expected next month to give more detail on its new enhanced investment petroleum contracts, Wood Mac noted, according to the website.

Saying that “on Thursday, the chief executive of Total, France’s largest oil company which had been one of Iran’s biggest industry partners before sanctions, announced that it had struck a deal to lift up to 200,000 barrels of crude oil from Iran,” it said “the marketing deal is no doubt a precursor to a bigger investment deal to develop production in Iran.”

Additionally, the Italian oil services company Saipem said earlier in the week that it had signed an initial agreement with Iran to undertake pipeline work.

“But,” the website wrote, “negotiations will take time [and] we do not expect any meaningful ramp-up in production from new developments this year.” The consultant forecast an increase of 400,000 barrels per day in Iranian exports this year as existing wells that had been shut in are brought back onstream. But that falls well short of the Iranian oil minister’s projection of an increase of 1 million bpd within six months.”