Iran Gas Deal with Total Continues to Stir Controversy

Newspapers on Thursday, July 13, widely covered the remarks made by Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh about the gas deal with Total in an address to the Parliament on Wednesday. The huge deal has sparked huge controversies since it was signed earlier this month.

‘Zanganeh Strongly Defends Total Deal’, ‘Endless Controversy’, and ‘Opponents of Total Deal Back Off’ were among the headlines used to cover the controversial deal.

Pro-government papers mostly picked positive headlines to highlight the cancellation of a triple-urgency parliamentary motion to stop the deal with Total, and described Zanganeh’s defence of the contract as a victory for Rouhani’s government.

Critics of the government, however, looked at the same issue from a different point of view and used critical and even harsh headlines to rap MPs for accepting the gas deal.

The Siasat-e Rooz and Kayhan newspapers claimed that Iranian officials have violated the law by signing the deal with Total.

Resalat, however, adopted a softer stance and only covered the remarks made by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani who declared a committee composed of Judiciary and Parliamentary representatives will oversee the deal with Total.