Tehran (AFP)

"A small gift from the government to the people": Iranian President Hassan Rohani announced Sunday the discovery of an oil field likely to increase by one third the national reserves, a "good news" for an Iran facing the American economic sanctions .

"We found an oil reservoir containing (reserves estimated at) 53 billion barrels," said Rohani during a speech in Yazd (center).

Such a discovery is likely to increase by a third the proven reserves of the country. These were 155.6 billion barrels at the end of 2018, according to the latest edition of the "Statistical Review of World Energy" published by the BP Group.

This ranked Iran fourth in the world behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada. The news would likely earn him a rank.

The deposit, 2.400 km2 wide and 80 meters deep, extends according to Mr. Rohani "from Bostan to Omidiyeh", two cities in the province of Khuzestan, in the southwest.

This is "a small gift from the government to the people of Iran," Rohani said, as the country's economy suffers from economic sanctions restored against the Islamic Republic by the United States since 2018.

Iran's GDP is expected to fall by 9.5% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

- "Beautiful field" -

On a daily basis, Iranians are confronted with double-digit inflation, which is gradually declining, and a devaluation of the rial, which considerably increases the price of imports.

However, the IMF expects a stabilization of GDP next year.

Mr. Rohani took advantage of the announcement of the "good news" oil to ensure that the Iranian economy was already stabilizing: "Our people went through difficult days last year (but) I think that America now no 'has more hope,' he said.

"Today we announce to America that we are a wealthy nation, and that despite your hostility and your cruel sanctions, Iranian oil workers and engineers have discovered this magnificent field," the president added. Iranian.

It remains to be seen how the country will benefit from this discovery.

As a result of the reinstatement of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic in the wake of the unilateral exit of the United States from the Iranian nuclear deal concluded in 2015 in Vienna, Iran has the greatest difficulty in selling its oil to the United States. foreign.

In May, Washington ended the exemptions it granted to Iran's top eight oil buyers, increasing pressure on countries such as China, India and Turkey to find crude oil suppliers other than Iran. .

Tehran has retorted US sanctions by progressively reducing its nuclear commitments.

- "Case to 2.7 billion dollars" -

Iran announced Thursday that it has resumed uranium enrichment activities at its underground Fordo plant, which were frozen under the 2015 agreement.

Between a US drone shot down in June by Iran, cross seizures of tankers, and attacks on foreign ships attributed to Iran but denied by Tehran, the Gulf region has been under high tension for six months.

In September, Iran, although it defended itself, was accused of being behind an attack on major oil installations in Saudi Arabia. This was claimed by the Houthi rebels of Yemen, supported by Tehran.

On Sunday, Mr. Rohani also returned to the cases of speculators who have been enriched with the crisis in the country, judged by dozens in recent years and for some executed.

He called on justice to "explain to the public cases of multi-billion dollar corruption". "Where did the money go?" He asked.

Rohani notably spoke about "a case to 2.7 billion dollars" whose suspect was "arrested, sentenced to death and is currently in prison", but whose money he would have diverted is still in the wild .

The president was apparently referring to businessman Babak Morteza Zanjani, convicted in 2016 of embezzling 2.7 billion dollars under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"In this government, neither a rial (the Iranian currency) nor a dollar will be lost.This belongs to the past," said Rohani, seeming to throw a stone in the garden of his predecessor.

Mr. Zanjani had made a fortune by helping the former government to circumvent the ban on Iranian oil sales, as part of international sanctions prior to the Vienna agreement.

© 2019 AFP