“As I’ve said before, Iran has quite constructively reacted as a whole to the proposals that are currently being discussed by our four [partners], but I’d say that [Iran] isn’t ready to join them yet,” Novak said in a televised interview on the Vesti v Subbotu weekly news program.
On Tuesday, the energy ministers of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar met in Doha. The four countries agreed to keep their average monthly oil output throughout 2016 at January levels if other major oil producers also did so. According to Venezuela's minister, the agreement was later supported by Ecuador, Algeria, Nigeria, Oman and Kuwait.
In August 2015, Tehran and six international mediators, including Russia, reached a historic deal on Iranian nuclear program, which was set to ensure the peaceful nature of its nuclear program in exchange for the termination of anti-Iran sanctions, in particular in oil sector.
In mid-January, the sanctions were removed after the International Atomic Energy Agency verified Tehran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement. The move makes it possible for Iran to reassume an active role on the global oil market.
