Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian (pictured) has said the export of electricity to neighboring countries has reached a record high in the past year.

Addressing a Sunday session of Tehran’s City Council, Ardakanian said management of the situation over the past two water years has helped the country break the record in three sectors of the power industry.

The minister said the records in electricity generation, power consumption and exports have been broken since 2017-2018 water year.

According to Ardakanian, Iran’s export of electricity to neighboring states, particularly to Iraq, reached a record high last year.

Ardakanian and his Iraqi counterpart Luay al-Khatteeb signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and a contract in February to boost cooperation between the two countries in the electricity industry.

On Wednesday, a US State Department spokesman said Washington has once again exempted Iraq from its sanctions against Iran, allowing the Arab country to continue gas and electricity imports from the Islamic Republic for another four-month period.