Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said his country has discovered a new oil field in the south of the country containing 53 billion barrels of crude oil.
Rouhani said in a speech from the city of Yazd that the discovery comes despite the US sanctions against his country.
The United States last year reimposed sanctions on Iran's energy sector and in May refused to renew any exceptions it had granted to eight countries to continue importing Iranian oil.
Al-Jazeera correspondent from Tehran Noureddine Al-Dughair said that Rouhani wanted to announce the new discovery by sending two letters, one that abroad is that Iran continues to develop its oil sector despite the US sanctions. To bring in foreign capital.
According to the reporter, Rouhani pointed out that the exploitation of only 1% of the new field - located on an area of 2,400 square kilometers - could generate Iran about 32 billion dollars.
Iran has the world's fourth-largest oil reserves and the second-largest gas reserves, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Iran's proven crude oil reserves are estimated at 157 billion barrels in January 2018, the administration says on its website.