"Indeed, we welcome the return of Iran’s oil production in the future, when sanctions are lifted. We look forward to that day," he said.
Al Ghais also noted that the oil market and demand for it are growing, adding that Iran is a responsible member of the organization.
Besides, Iran is one of the founders of OPEC and a "key player" on the global market, the secretary general said. However, sanctions seriously limit Iran’s production capacities, but, despite this fact, Tehran continues to play a major role in ensuring stable and reliable oil supplies, investing in both exploration and oil refining, as well as in petrochemistry.
Under former US President Donald Trump, the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018. In November that year, sanctions against Iran, including restrictions on oil purchases, were completely reimposed, however, the US authorities issued temporary permissions to a series of countries to keep buying oil from Tehran. The permissions expired in May 2019 and were not extended.
Talks to resume the JCPOA with Iran began in December 2021. Their main goal is to restore the deal and lift the sanctions previously imposed on Tehran by the United States after Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA. However, progress on the deal was frozen by September 2022 amid a series of mass protests in Iran, for which Tehran blamed the US and other Western countries.