Speaking to Shana, Hassan Montazer Torbati said, "We do not import gas and the needs of the whole country are met from domestic sources for the time being."

Referring to the prospects of Iran's gas exports to neighboring countries, Torbati touched on the recent meeting of Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh with the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, saying, "I have not seen Mr. Zangeneh yet to talk to his about his meeting, but in terms of network structure, in the past, Iran’s gas exported to the former Soviet Union via Azerbaijan; now the necessary infrastructure is available up to the border and in Azerbaijan, so there is no problem in terms of infrastructure and it depends on the agreements and contracts that will be signed in the future.”

He further said exporting gas to neighboring countries is Iran's long-term plan.

"Gas export contracts are long-term and cannot be decided in the short term. One of our plans in the long term is to export gas to neighboring countries, so given the plans we have to increase production and optimize consumption, there is no need to worry about this issue. Seasonal concerns should not affect long-term, annual plans either,” he said.