Feb 22 • 19:30 UTC 🇶🇦 Qatar Al Jazeera

Iran's Minerals: Parallel Economic Wealth Threatening Its Oil and Gas

Iran's vast mineral resources present significant economic potential that could rival its oil and gas industries.

Iran possesses immense mineral wealth that could position it as a formidable economic power beyond its reliance on oil and gas. The country's mineral reserves, ranging from copper and iron to gold, uranium, and other strategic minerals, are spread across a wide geographic area, providing Tehran with opportunities to compete in global markets and reshape trade maps in the region, as reported by journalist Salama Khodir on Al Jazeera.

Geologists and economists estimate Iran's mineral resources to be in the billions of tons of proven and potential minerals, reflecting vast economic potential that remains underutilized. In this context, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs, Hamid Qanbari, suggested that the United States could benefit from high-yield economic sectors to ensure the sustainability of any potential agreement with Tehran, hinting at the role these resources could play in supporting a future political settlement or deal.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Iranian sector includes over 6,000 active mines, with approximately 37 billion tons of proven reserves and an additional 57 billion tons of potential reserves. This unprecedented mineral wealth, if properly harnessed, could lead to significant alterations in the Iranian economy and its interactions with global markets, potentially providing an alternative to its traditional dependence on fossil fuels.

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