Iran is struggling to finalize the terms under which foreign energy companies can drill for oil there, as a political battle rages between the country’s more moderate forces and its conservative hard-liners. Iranian oil officials canceled a conference set to be held this month in London where Iranian officials had said new contracts for Western companies would be presented. Officials blamed the cancellations on the inability to secure enough British visas for the event. According to people familiar with the matter, another reason for the conference’s cancellation are conservative factions—inside and outside the energy industry—that believe the contracts drawn up by President Hassan Rouhani’s oil ministry are too generous to foreign companies. At a time of low oil prices, the country also is under pressure from international oil companies to sweeten the terms of agreements known as Iranian Petroleum Contracts. The disagreements have delayed the publication of the contracts’ […]