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Iran's push to modernize its oil industry through artificial intelligence and advanced drilling techniques faces daunting old obstacles from restricted access to technology to mounting financial constraints which have dogged exports for years.
National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) chief Hamid Bord in a February speech set an ambitious target of raising production by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, putting AI and digital reservoir management at the center of the plan.
These tools use data modeling and automation to map underground reserves, optimize drilling, and improve recovery rates from aging fields.
Bord urged Iran’s knowledge-based firms to launch pilot projects for smart drilling and enhanced recovery, hoping to boost output despite sanctions and isolation.
More than six months later the vision remains unrealized, with exports roughly steady at around 1.7 million bpd with stiff US sanctions only increasing since the return of US President Donald Trump and his so-called maximum pressure sanctions in January.
Major obstacles
The gap between high-tech ideas and field-level execution remains wide.
Early trials have already exposed operational problems and underscored the heavy responsibility on NIOC to turn innovation into results.
The cash required for such projects is also scarce. Whatever capital is available is drained away by aging infrastructure, maintenance backlogs, surging domestic demand and sanctions that block access to equipment.
Iran hemorrhages the value of about four out of every five barrels of oil it manages to export, a former senior US Treasury official told Iran International last week, as sanctions forced funds to be lost in corrupt smuggling networks.
Tehran casts this push as part of a broader sanctions-resilience strategy.
By investing in high-tech solutions and formalizing technology integration, it hopes to build an advanced, adaptable export network more resilient to blockade or interception.
Expanding capacity through digitization also carries geopolitical stakes: more barrels could strengthen Iran’s position within OPEC and global markets, offsetting its diplomatic isolation.
But scaling innovations in Iran’s difficult oilfields is another matter.
Many startups lack the resources and experience to apply their technologies at scale, leaving NIOC to supervise integration in hostile operating conditions.
Rising gas consumption—already above one billion cubic meters daily—is adding to the strain, diverting investment from oil exports and worsening supply-demand imbalances.
Big prize, little chance
If those hurdles can be overcome, the payoff would be significant.
Advanced drilling and AI-driven recovery could extend the life of aging fields, stabilize revenues and reduce reliance on costly new reserve exploration. Building a knowledge-based ecosystem might also diversify the economy, generate jobs, and spur research and development.
Limited international partnerships, including with European universities, provide channels for technology transfer and best practices, blending local innovation with selective global input.
Iran’s tech-driven oil strategy reflects determination to sustain its role in global energy despite sanctions and isolation. But its success hinges on closing the gap between vision and implementation while managing surging domestic demand—a tall order as UN sanctions are set to snap back within days.
Iran could produce weapons-grade uranium within weeks if it chose to, despite heavy damage to its facilities from US and Israeli airstrikes earlier this year, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said.
Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told The Times that some centrifuge production sites had survived June’s strikes and Tehran retained the capacity to manufacture key components. “If they wanted to, it would just be a matter of time,” he said.
Grossi added that inspections of Iranian facilities had resumed but that the IAEA had yet to access Tehran’s stockpile enriched to 60%, which would need to reach 90% for weapons use.
“It’s a matter of weeks — not months or years,” he said, warning that Iran appeared “quite protective” of the material.
Iran says its uranium stockpile was buried under rubble after the strikes on its facilities and is now out of reach.
The US estimates the strikes set back Iran’s program by up to two years, though Grossi said the true delay was unclear.
On Friday, the UN Security Council voted to reimpose sanctions under the 2015 nuclear deal’s “snapback” mechanism, after Britain, France and Germany accused Tehran of non-compliance.
Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of using new restrictions on its delegation to the United Nations as a tool of political pressure, after Washington limited Iranian diplomats’ movements in New York and denied visas to much of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s media team.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the curbs, which include restrictions on daily activities such as grocery shopping, were aimed at “disrupting Iran's diplomatic performance” during the UN General Assembly.
He described them as “a blatant violation” of US obligations under the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement.
“The systematic harassment of Iranian diplomats has obstructed delegates from attending several multilateral events outside the so-called ‘permitted parameters’ this week alone,” Baghaei wrote on social media, calling the measures “a new low” in US hostility toward Iranians.
Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of using new restrictions on its delegation to the United Nations as a tool of political pressure, after Washington limited Iranian diplomats’ movements in New York and denied visas to much of President Masoud Pezeshkian’s media team.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the curbs, which include restrictions on daily activities such as grocery shopping, were aimed at “disrupting Iran's diplomatic performance” during the UN General Assembly.
He described them as “a blatant violation” of US obligations under the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement.
“The systematic harassment of Iranian diplomats has obstructed delegates from attending several multilateral events outside the so-called ‘permitted parameters’ this week alone,” Baghaei wrote on social media, calling the measures “a new low” in US hostility toward Iranians.
The US State Department said Monday that the restrictions were intended to prevent Iran’s delegation from “lavish shopping” in New York while ordinary Iranians face economic hardship, and to limit Tehran’s ability to “promote its terrorist agenda.”
It confined delegates to the area between UN headquarters and their hotel, with transit allowances for official meetings.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported separately that most of Pezeshkian’s media staff were denied visas, leaving only two aides -- his press chief and deputy -- to cover what it called a large number of events during the trip.
It noted that under the new rules, even the purchase of fountain pens is classified as a “luxury” requiring special permits.
The dispute comes as Pezeshkian prepare to address the 80th UNGA amid heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, the looming reimposition of UN “snapback” sanctions later this month, and the fallout from a 12-day war with Israel in June.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told Iran International on Tuesday there is no prospect of renewed war with Tehran in the near future after US and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities earlier this year.
Danon said US and Israeli strikes in June delivered a major setback to Iran’s nuclear program and that it would take Tehran years to rebuild.
Asked whether Israel might carry out more attacks on Iran, Danon said it was unlikely.
“I don't think we're moving toward war, you know, Israel is a peaceful nation. And I think Iran should focus its energy supporting the Iranian people, not to spend billions on the proxies, on Hezbollah, on the Houthis.”
“They should support their own people in Iran. They deserve better than that,” he told Iran International at UN headquarters in New York,.
Still, he framed the strikes as a chance to rally the world to action, not the start of an open conflict.
Danon urged the international community to seize the moment not for escalation, but for pressure — through tougher sanctions and inspections.
“As of now, I see now is the time for the international community to step in and to apply more pressure,” he said.
He also voiced skepticism about Tehran’s alleged offer to Europeans to dilute its highly enriched uranium without intrusive verification.
His comments came hours after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei categorically rejected negotiations with Washington, dismissing President Donald Trump’s demand that Iran end all uranium enrichment as “dictation, not negotiation.”
In a televised speech, Khamenei said Iran would never bow to threats and vowed enrichment would continue, declaring that “a proud nation like the Iranian people will slap the mouth of the one who says this.”
In New York, Iran’s foreign minister met with his British, French, and German counterparts in last-ditch talks aimed at preventing the automatic reimposition of UN sanctions on September 28.
Diplomats warned that the chances of success remain slim, saying Tehran has yet to take the concrete steps needed to avert snapback. “The ball is in Iran’s court,” one European envoy said.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told The Times Tehran could resume enrichment “within weeks.”
But Danon said the strikes had bought valuable time — and that Israel’s priority now is to use that time to build international pressure on Tehran, not to move toward war.
Former deputy director Olli Heinonen told Iran International's podcast Eye for Iran that roughly 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent remains unaccounted for — enough material for several nuclear weapons if further refined.
