Mohammad Baqer Nowbakht who was speaking in a press conference after Cabinet meeting of Wednesday, said that Iran would effectively handle oil price plunges.
On recent developments in France and the desecration of the Prophet of Islam through cartoons in French magazine Charlie Hebdo, spokesman told reporters that Iran’s official position on the ensuing terrorist attacks and the cartoons themselves had been communicated to the world ‘clearly enough’ by the president and Foreign Ministry.
Nowbakht denounced the recent harsh criticism mounted at home against Zarif’s walking along with John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, in Geneva as ‘unfounded;’ “those who mount such unsubstantiated and flimsy criticism on Zarif’s conduct in Geneva, try to sabotage the negotiations process, since they see that negotiations are handled strictly and in line with national interests,” Nowbakht emphasized. “These critiques would have no place and value in public views,” he added.
In response to Mehr News correspondent question on government’s different scenarios to manage the oil price cuts, with setting a 72 dollar per barrel for oil in the Cabinet Nowbakht told that “when we drafted the next year’s budget plan, oil prices were about the same figures; however, later it rocked down even in new record lows.”
“Oil price cut is a matter more economic than political; we will handle this trend, as we did during 5 or 6 past months. If political issue of price cuts is resolved, we have plans for the rest of the matter; we presented Parliament with a table of important plans which would absorb the surplus incomes in the case that oil prices rise again; overall, the budget is flexible enough for different oil price conditions,” he said.
On demands that French ambassador be deported, Nowbakht said that he believed that the Foreign Ministry did the accurate reaction, and notified the ambassador with necessary points; “we advance the rights of the nation through a politically accurate tone and language; we respect the public sentiments and beliefs, but believe that we should not attribute our vested interests to people, a thing political groups sometimes did, telling their own word by the voice of public,” he told the press.
On recent upheaval in the Parliament during Ali Motahari’s address to the public session, Nowbakht said that as one with long career in the Parliament and the cabinet, “I believe that every representative has the right to express his or her ideas and views on different issues of the country; the opposition should also be able to express themselves; I had not seen such an upheaval in the Parliament before,” he exclaimed.
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