Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made the remarks in a Thanksgiving Harvest Celebration ceremony held in Tehran on Monday, while commending the country’s farmers for reaching self-sufficiency in wheat production.

“Agriculture, beside creating job opportunities and increasing economic growth, brings about national power, national sustainability and independence,” Rouhani said at the ceremony on Monday.

Stressing that the country’s bargaining power is in infrastructures, he said “if a product boosts our bargaining power on a global scene and in international negotiations, this means our national power has increased.”

He noted that the approval for Iran’s oil production increase at the OPEC meeting boosted the country’s bargaining power, adding “since the implementation day of the nuclear deal which was a day of mourning for Israel and another regional country, until now oil producers have been bargaining over reduction of prices and production, but Iran’s production has reached 2.3m barrels in the past ten months. This means power which now allows OPEC to invite us to run the meetings.”

According to the President, the country’s agricultural products have increased from 97 million tons in 2013 to 117 million tons in 2016, which shows 20 million tons increase in three years’ time.