Abdolali Rahimi-Mozaffari made the remarks during a meeting with former members of the Khorasan Razavi Provincial Parliament and advisors to the oil minister at the South Pars gas field.

He stressed the need to showcase domestic capabilities in oil and gas to inspire hope amid challenges.

"Amid the bombardment of despair, our duty is to inject hope," he said. "The facilities in South Pars are a testament to our domestic expertise in oil and gas, and these achievements must be highlighted because spreading hope is essential."

He acknowledged the difficult working conditions, including psychological stress and harsh weather, which pose life-threatening risks. Yet, he noted, production continues thanks to the efforts of oil industry workers and engineers.

Addressing former lawmakers, Rahimi-Mozaffari said: "You have represented the people, so you understand how hard it is even to pave a rural road. Imagine the complexity of maintaining massive facilities like these—it requires immense expertise."

He pointed to energy imbalance as a critical issue, stating that the Seventh Development Plan’s establishment of an Energy Optimization Organization under the president’s supervision aims to address this problem.

Expressing hope for the organization’s effective launch, he called for inter-ministerial cooperation: "We cannot produce cars that consume several times the global standard of gasoline, build energy-wasting structures, or manufacture inefficient heaters with only 30-35% efficiency, then expect the Oil and Energy Ministries alone to fix the imbalance. Other ministries must also contribute."

He emphasized that high-value-added production would boost the economy, and lifting sanctions would help reduce raw material sales in favor of higher-value products. "But achieving all this requires sowing seeds of hope in the country," he added.

The meeting was held on Thursday and Friday (April 10-11).