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Oil Giant Total Takes to Twitter to Underscore Iran Commitment

In an unusual move, Total’s press office issued a series of tweets on Tuesday in order to correct an apparent mischaracterization of the company’s position on its planned USD 4.8 billion gas deal in Iran.

A piece published by CNN Money on Tuesday, and later echoed by Reuters, suggested that Total was “rethinking” its comittment to Iran in light of the company’s large presence in the U.S. and President Trump’s opposition to the Iran deal. The piece centered on comments made to CNN Money on the sidelines of an energy conference in Abu Dhabi, with Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné stating that “If there is a sanctions regime [on Iran], we have to look at it carefully… We work in the U.S., we have assets in the U.S., we just acquired more assets in the U.S.”

But a series of tweets from Total’s official press office account have since sought to dispel the idea that there has been any change in the company’s policy towards Iran. The tweets explain how the comments made by Pouyanné are consistent with those made in several interviews since Trump’s de-certification of the JCPOA Iran Deal.