A senior US energy official has further cemented Barack Obama’s commitment to a thawing of relations with Iran by stating that the country is ready to directly invest money into the Iranian energy sector.
The Iran-based Moj News Agency reported that, Richard Morningstar, who is special envoy for Eurasian energy for the United States, said that once relations between the two countries improve the US would look to make immediate investment in various Iranian oil and gas projects.Â
“We want to engage with Iran… and we are hoping that there will be positive responses from Iran and that we will be able to resolve some of our outstanding issues,” Moj reported Morningstar as saying.
Morningstar was speaking at an energy security conference in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The special envoy made it clear that although companies from the United States and other Western countries were keen to help Iran exploit its huge reserves of oil and gas, they would only do so if certain conditions were met.
Many companies are currently prohibited from operating in Iran due to the country’s insistence on pursuing a nuclear programme.Â
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