He said gas exports should not be destined only to Turkey, rather there are 15 countries in the neighborhood with which Iran can have good gas exchanges.

He added that besides gas, electricity and other sources of energy can be exported to such countries as Iraq, Turkey, Oman, the UAE, Armenia and Georgia, that are Iranian gas customers.

He went on to say that experience has shown that gas exports can have economic benefits and influence Iranian diplomacy: For the time being, 50 percent of Iranian gas production capacity is kept vacant and 10 billion cubic meters of gas are exported to Turkey. "Under new contracts, Ankara is to purchase more volumes of Iranian gas at cheeper prices."