Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad’s resignation was accepted, and Hamid Bovard was tasked with running the ministry’s affairs. President Masoud Pezeshkian accepted Paknejad’s resignation, which he submitted on Sunday.
Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy head of communications at the Iranian president’s office, announced that Bovard had been appointed to run the Oil Ministry on an interim basis.
New interim minister comes from the oil sector
Bovard, the former head of the National Iranian Oil Company, spent most of his professional career overseeing operations in oil fields.
Oil revenues and sanctions pressure
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there were no Iranian oil shipments remaining at sea and that the country’s oil revenues would fall to zero this week.
On August 25, the U.S. Treasury Department also announced that it had launched the comprehensive “Economic Exclusion Operation,” aimed at completely isolating Iran from the global financial system.
War between Iran, the United States and Israel
Following the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28, the authorities in Tehran carried out missile and drone attacks across the region. Iran also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which is strategically important for energy shipments.
The U.S. military later imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Talks aimed at ending the war continued after the framework agreement reached in June, which was intended to pave the way for a final peace deal covering navigation on the strategic waterway and Iran’s nuclear program.
