Tasnim � Spokesman for the Iranian Administration Mohammad Baqer Nobakht praised the $5 billion gas deal recently signed between Iran and France�s energy giant Total, saying the investment project would be highly profitable for the country.

The project will generate $85 billion of income in a 20-year period, Nobakht told reporters at his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

He added that $12 billion of the income would go to the foreign investors and the rest would belong to Iran.

�This has been an unparalleled contract since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and is highly praised.�

The comments came as some parliamentarians, experts and top figures in oil and gas industry have voiced their strong opposition to the gas deal, saying Total has hatched �a sinister plot� against the Islamic Republic.

Total and China�s National Petroleum Company (CNPC) struck the $5 billion agreement with Iran on July 3.

The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Tehran attended by Zangeneh, Total�s CEO Patrick Pouyanne and senior officials from China�s CNPC and Iran�s Petropars.

Total holds a 50.1 interest in the South Pars project with state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation owning 30 percent and Iran�s Petropars 19.9 percent.

The development of Phase 11 of the South Pars project will cost up to $5 billion.

The vast offshore gas field is shared between Iran and Qatar, where Total is also a major player in gas production as well as in oil and refining. Tehran calls the giant field South Pars while Doha calls it the North Field.