Abstract: The topicality of the research issue consists, firstly, in the need to study the system and structure of administrative and legal regulation and management of subsoil use in the Islamic Republic of Iran; secondly, in the formation of a new direction of development of the administrative law science – administrative law of foreign countries; thirdly, in the use of Iranian models of legal regulation of subsoil use for the development of Russian legislative instruments; fourthly, in concretization of the activities of Iranian subsoil using organizations for the elaboration of interaction with Russian oil and gas companies; finally, in the need to define the participants of Iran’s oil activities and their functions for the detection of sectors of foreign participation and the possibility of Russia’s participation in Iran’s oil activities. The research subject is the legal regime of granting of the right to use mineral resources in Iran. The authors give special attention to the occurrence, changing and cessation of the legal status of the participants of oil activities. The authors analyze the subject composition of subsoil users on Iran’s territory and in waters, including trans-border deposits. The authors consider particular functions of each of the participants of oil activities and describe geographical areas of their oil activities. The article considers the structure of the key participants of Iran’s oil activities and a brief review of each oil and gas company. The research methodology is based on general scientific methods (dialectical, comparison, analysis synthesis, analogy, deduction, induction, etc.) and specific research methods (formal-logical, dogmatic, the method of interpretation of law, comparative-legal method, the method of state legal modeling, historical-legal method, system method, the method of forecast, etc.). The scientific novelty of the study consists, firstly, in the description of the model of normative regulation of subsoil use management in the Islamic Republic of Iran via the network of affiliated persons of the National Iranian Oil Company; secondly, in the publication of materials, which have been previously published only in Farsi, about the structure of Iranian oil and gas companies and the functions of their departments; thirdly, in the definition of the range of Iranian users of mineral resources for the purpose of including Russian entities after the lifting of international sanctions against Iran; fourthly, in forecasting the development of the Iranian model of subsoil use due to the influence of hydrocarbon extraction in this state on the formation of global oil and gas prices. Their level is used for currency earnest forecasting in the Russian budget. The authors come to the following conclusions: 1. The status of a participant of Iran’s oil activities in Iran is regulated by law and belongs to the National Iranian Oil Company; 2. Other entities acquire this status via concluding an Iranian oil contract with the National Iranian Oil Company; 3. The participants of Iran’s oil activities are the persons affiliated with the National Iranian Oil Company via oil contracts; 4. The Iranian Ministry of Petroleum is actually not a participant of oil activities, though the Iranian Parliament has adopted new legal norms, which vest it with the authorities to manage mineral resources, license and conclude oil contracts; 5. The National Iranian Oil Company and the affiliated companies are responsible for subsoil use management and subsoil use in Iran; 6. The participants of oil activities in Iran are divided into the residents of Iran and foreign legal entities; 7. The change of the status of the subsoil user of the residents is carried out in administrative order; 8. The change of the status of participants of oil activities of foreign legal entities, including investors, is regulated by the provisions of oil contracts; 9. Assignment of a contractual obligation by a foreign entity is not allowed without a consent of an ordering customer; 10. Cessation of the status of a participant of oil activities is performed by the consent of the parties to the oil contract or unilaterally in case the contractor infringes the contract if it is covered by the contract, or due to force majeure events covered by the contract; 11. The contractual system of subsoil use in Iran is gradually transforming into the administrative one.

Abstract: The research subject is mineral resources management in the Republic of Iran in the 19th – the 21st centuries. The authors give special attention to the formation of the national legislation of Iran on natural resources. The authors consider three stages of the modern legal regime of mineral resources management in Iran: the first – contractual – stage, the second – national – stage, and the third – normative legal (post-revolutionary) – stage. Special attention is given to the legal regime of Iran’s continental shelf and to the contracts of the National Iranian Oil Company with agents, contractors and foreign investors. The research contains the information about the formation and development of the system and the structure of governmental management of mineral resources in Iran. The research methodology is based on general scientific methods (dialectics, comparison, analysis, synthesis, analogy, induction, deduction, etc.) and specific methods (formal-legal, comparative-legal, historical-legal, the method of governmental regulation, the system method, the method of prognostication, etc.). The scientific novelty of the article consists in the fact that it reveals the historical patterns of formation and development of Iran’s legislation on natural resources; defines the stages of its formation including the legislation on the continental shelf; studies the essential terms of contracts and patents on joint mineral resources management; defines the legal status of the participants of mineral resources production including foreign investors; describes the historical dynamics of the system and the structure of state management of mineral resources in Iran; and reveals the tendencies of the further development of Iranian legislation on mineral resources management.