Trump Should Avoid Meddling In Middle East Affairs To Get Lower Oil Prices - Tehran

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump should abandon the practices of interfering in the affairs of the Middle East region if he wanted lower oil prices from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th September, 2018) Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump should abandon the practices of interfering in the affairs of the middle East region if he wanted lower oil prices from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Trump has repeatedly accused the cartel of driving up oil prices and manipulating the oil market. Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, the president said that some OPEC members were "taking advantage" of the United States by receiving US military aid and not reducing oil prices in return.

"If Trump wants oil prices not to increase and does not want a destabilized market, he should stop improper and tension-making meddling in the important Middle East region and should not prevent production and exports of Iran's oil," the Fars news agency quoted Zanganeh as saying at a cabinet meeting.

The OPEC states and several non-OPEC producers have teamed up in 2016 in a bid to stabilize dropping oil prices. The cartel cut production by a total of 1.8 million barrels per day. The strategy brought Brent crude from slightly over $43 per barrel in 2016 to over $72 in 2018. However, US sanctions on the Iranian oil industry push prices even higher as the restrictions may remove over 2 million barrel of crude per day from the global market.