The Majlis (Iranian parliament) disapproves of a plan proposed by the government that is said to bring about an “economic breakthrough” for the country through selling oil bonds, MP Hossein-Ali Haji Deligani told the Tehran Times.

Economic breakthrough should be attained either through submitting the budget amendment bill to the parliament or the pre-selling of oil on the Energy Exchange market in small packages,” the MP noted.

It is said that based on this plan, the government is to sell 220 million barrels of oil through issuing parallel salaf bonds in a course of one year.

A standard parallel salaf is an Islamic contract similar to futures, with the difference being that the contract’s total price must be paid in advance. 

While the details of the mentioned plan have not been still announced, it has drawn many criticisms as it is highly doubtful that people would risk their savings in order to invest in oil transactions. Practical feasibility is another question.