Iranians should get more from oil money: President

TEHRAN

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for an end to the straight export of raw materials, saying the country should seek to produce finished products within the country. DHA photo

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the economy should not be in the control of an elite minority, warning that Iranians still cannot benefit from the country’s oil revenues, Anatolia news agency reported.

“The country’s economy should not be tied to 3,000 or 10,000 people, but to the whole nation,” said Ahmadinejad at a speech in Kirmanshah.

Western powers have been exploiting the country’s oil and natural gas revenues for many years, Ahmadinejad said, adding that the Iranians are still deprived of oil revenues because the oil is sold at a cheaper price even after it was nationalized, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

‘People receive partial oil revenues’

The total oil revenues have not been received by Iranians so far, said the Iranian president, adding that people receive only partial revenues since the revolution, referring to the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Justice, welfare and a stable economy will be possible only with a system in which people remain active, he added.

Stating that the country should move away from selling raw materials, the president said it is expected that raw materials be turned into the finished products inside the country and its surplus be exported to other countries, Fars news agency reported. The country set is to elect its seventh president on June 14, 2013.