Al-Monitor | Arash Karami: Two years after it agreed to reduce its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of�international sanctions, Iran has signed its first energy deal. France�s�Total SA�and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) agreed to a�$5 billion deal�to develop Phase 11 of Iran�s�South Pars�offshore gas field,�one of the largest in the world.

ran�s Oil Minister�Bijan Zanganeh�hailed the deal, attributing it to both the�nuclear deal and the presidential election�that gave President Hassan Rouhani a second term. Zanganeh also said July 3 that Iran would not be opposed to signing energy deals with the United States; however, it is the Americans themselves who do not�want to.

Mohammad Bagher Nobakht,�spokesperson for the Rouhani administration, also credited�the nuclear deal and the election with the signing of the contract,�noting that the deal was struck�despite �America�s attempts to create an�anti-Iran environment.�

Reformist media outlets that have�supported the moderate Rouhani administration and its policies were�jubilant over the news. Shargh Daily's front-page headline�called the deal the �breaking of the petroleum dam.� Before Iran�s nuclear deal, even the country�s oil was hard to move.�Iran had difficulty finding customers and was forced to barter due to banking sanctions.
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