48: Chapter 48: Utilization of $2.16 Billion in Procurement Funds

"No," Li Yi vetoed. "After all, you are paying entirely with oil, and the transportation costs for oil are too high."

"What about a 35% reduction? The quantity of Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile we are purchasing this time will be quite large." Lieutenant Colonel Haidari tried to entice Li Yi to agree.

Li Yi considered it. Continuing to pressure Iran to agree to sell oil at a 40% discount based on international oil prices seemed a bit difficult. It seemed he had no choice but to agree. He said, "Fine. The oil price will be calculated at a 35% discount based on international oil prices."

Seeing that Li Yi had agreed, Lieutenant Colonel Haidari quickly said, "The current international oil price is $74.5 per barrel. Calculating the oil price at a 35% discount based on international oil prices comes to $48.425 per barrel. How about we calculate all the oil paid for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile we are purchasing this time at this price?"

Seeing that this oil price was about the same as the previous batch, Li Yi did not object and said, "We will price it at $48.425 per barrel. Our side also agrees that the oil price paid for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile you are purchasing this time will all be calculated at $48.425 per barrel."

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari certainly hoped that the oil price would be set as high as possible. However, Iran had no way to sell oil to other countries; only a handful of countries purchased large quantities of oil from Iran. This also led to Iran being unable to sell its exported oil at a high price.

Selling oil at $48.425 per barrel to purchase the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile was considered a relatively good situation.

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari calculated the oil funds he could utilize.

Major General Rahim had given him a quota of 50 million barrels of oil. After deducting the 5.351 million barrels of oil that remained unpaid from the last transaction, 44.649 million barrels of oil remained.

Calculated at $48.425 per barrel, the oil funds he could utilize amounted to 2.1621278 billion USD, which was about 2.16 billion USD, nearly five times the amount of the last transaction. He should be able to make a good purchase.

However, while this amount looked large, in reality, if he truly purchased the Tianlei Type V Anti-Aircraft Missile and the Tianlei Type VI Anti-Aircraft Missile, he wouldn't be able to buy much at all.

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari wanted to strive for more discounts and asked, "Can the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile we are purchasing this time be combined with the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile we purchased last time to calculate a discounted price? For example, we purchased 500 sets of Tianlei Type I Anti-Aircraft Missile last time. If we purchase another 500 sets of Tianlei Type I Anti-Aircraft Missile this time, that would exceed 1000 sets combined. Can we calculate the newly purchased Tianlei Type I Anti-Aircraft Missile according to the discount price for over 1000 sets?"

Li Yi considered it. His intention was to encourage buyers to buy as many various military products produced by the Multiverse Arms Trading System as possible. He said, "It can be calculated this way. This can be considered the best promotional offer we give to customers."

In this way, buyers would be able to continuously purchase more various military hardware from Li Yi in order to obtain more discounts.

For Li Yi, this was completely acceptable. Although his profits might seem to suffer in the short term, looking at it in the long term, he would be able to sell more military hardware.

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari had secured another promotional offer and felt even happier. He began to select and purchase various models of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile.

The Tianlei Type IV to VI Anti-Aircraft Missile were all too expensive, so he could only purchase them at the lowest discounted price, starting with 10 sets of each, along with 10 accompanying missiles for each.

Calculated this way, each set of Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile cost 14 million USD, with each missile costing 7 million USD, requiring an expenditure of 210 million USD; each set of Tianlei Type V Anti-Aircraft Missile cost 28 million USD, with each missile costing 20 million USD, requiring an expenditure of 480 million USD; each set of Tianlei Type VI Anti-Aircraft Missile cost 40 million USD, with each missile costing 26 million USD, requiring an expenditure of 660 million USD.

Just these three models of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile required an expenditure of 1.35 billion USD. This had already consumed more than half of the funds Lieutenant Colonel Haidari had prepared.

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari simply calculated the purchase quantities for the other Tianlei Type I to III Anti-Aircraft Missile, and finally arrived at a procurement plan that maximized the use of the funds at his disposal.

Soon, Lieutenant Colonel Haidari reported the procurement plan, saying: "Our side expects to purchase 500 sets of Tianlei Type I Anti-Aircraft Missile this time, plus 1700 accompanying missiles; purchase 200 sets of Tianlei Type II Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 500 accompanying missiles; purchase 50 sets of Tianlei Type III Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 300 accompanying missiles; purchase 10 sets of Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 10 accompanying missiles; purchase 10 sets of Tianlei Type V Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 10 accompanying missiles; purchase 10 sets of Tianlei Type VI Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 10 accompanying missiles."

Li Yi listened while calculating the total price, and quickly arrived at the result: it was 2.161 billion USD in total.

"The total price for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile your side is purchasing this time is 2.161 billion USD. This total price is correct, right?" Li Yi confirmed with Lieutenant Colonel Haidari.

"That's correct." Lieutenant Colonel Haidari saw that this amount was the same as what he had calculated.

"Calculated at $48.425 per barrel, that means 44.6257 million barrels of oil need to be paid. Lieutenant Colonel Haidari, is there any problem with this figure?"

44.6257 million barrels of oil was lower than the 44.649 million barrels of oil remaining from his 50 million barrel oil quota, which was exactly within the authority given to him by Major General Rahim.

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari felt that he had managed to maximize the use of the oil funds given by Major General Rahim.

"No problem. The oil paid for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile purchased this time, combined with the unpaid oil from the last purchase, totals 49.9767 million barrels of oil. We will pay this oil to your side in batches."

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari intended to mix the unpaid oil from last time with the oil to be paid this time for batch payments.

"The total price for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile purchased this time is 2.161 billion USD. Calculated at a 20% deposit, the deposit required is 432.2 million USD. Calculated at $48.425 per barrel, that is 8.9251 million barrels of oil. Adding the 5.351 million barrels of oil unpaid from last time, it totals 14.2761 million barrels of oil. If the first batch of oil delivered is set at 15 million barrels, is it okay to pay the oil this way?"

Li Yi asked Lieutenant Colonel Haidari about the batches and quantities of oil payments, trying to round the oil paid each time to integers as much as possible to avoid needing to recalculate every time oil was paid.

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari also calculated it himself. Paying 15 million barrels of oil for the first batch was no pressure at all for Iran. He said, "Fine, our side will pay 15 million barrels of oil for the first batch."

"How many batches does your side intend to receive the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile purchased this time in?"

"Can it be delivered all at once?" Lieutenant Colonel Haidari wanted to get the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile as soon as possible.

"Delivered all at once?" Li Yi repeated. He could purchase all the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile that Lieutenant Colonel Haidari was buying from the Multiverse Arms Trading System at once. However, delivering it all at once was still somewhat problematic, mainly whether Iran could pay off nearly 50 million barrels of oil at once.

Li Yi considered it and refused, saying, "No, it needs to be delivered in at least two batches."

Hearing Li Yi's refusal, Lieutenant Colonel Haidari thought it would be like last time, requiring the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile to be delivered in three batches. But after hearing that it would be at least two batches, he immediately said, "Then we will receive this batch of Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile in two batches."

"That is the same operation. After your side pays the deposit, we will deliver the first batch of Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile. After your side pays the second batch of oil, we will complete the delivery of the remaining Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile. After that, your side needs to pay off all the remaining oil balance."

Li Yi gave the oil payment method for Iran's purchase of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile this time, and continued, "The oil your side will pay the second time is 20 million barrels, and the last payment of oil is 14.9767 million barrels. Is it okay to pay oil this way?"

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari only had to pay a maximum of 20 million barrels of oil at one time, which he didn't mind at all. 20 million barrels of oil was just five days of production for Iran; paying 20 million barrels of oil at once was no problem.

"Okay. Our side has no objections."

"Then does your side have any requirements for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile delivered in each batch?"

"For the first batch, deliver 1000 accompanying missiles for the Tianlei Type I Anti-Aircraft Missile; 100 sets of Tianlei Type II Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 300 accompanying missiles; 200 accompanying missiles for the Tianlei Type III Anti-Aircraft Missile; 5 sets of Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 5 accompanying missiles; 5 sets of Tianlei Type V Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 5 accompanying missiles; 5 sets of Tianlei Type VI Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 5 accompanying missiles."

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari gave the models and quantities of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile to be delivered in the first batch, and continued, "The second batch will deliver the remaining 500 sets of Tianlei Type I Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 700 accompanying missiles; 100 sets of Tianlei Type II Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 200 accompanying missiles; 50 sets of Tianlei Type III Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 100 accompanying missiles; 5 sets of Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 5 accompanying missiles; 5 sets of Tianlei Type V Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 5 accompanying missiles; 5 sets of Tianlei Type VI Anti-Aircraft Missile, plus 5 accompanying missiles."

After listening, Li Yi noted that the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile delivered in these two batches was basically split in half. For Li Yi, this delivery quantity just required him to allocate the quantity of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile to be delivered, and it would not increase his workload.