Iran criticizes US for Saudi oil request: report

Iran on Friday blasted a U.S. request that Saudi Arabia increase its oil production to make up for a drop in Iranian exports in the wake of President Trump’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. 

“It’s crazy and astonishing to see instruction coming from Washington to Saudi to act and replace a shortfall of Iran’s export due to their Illegal sanction on Iran and Venezuela,” Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran’s representative to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), told Reuters. 

{mosads}He told Reuters that he does not believe OPEC will allow the increased production and warned that oil prices would rise as a result of the Trump administration’s sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.

“OPEC will not accept such a humiliation. How arrogant and ignorant one could be (to) underestimate the history of 60 years’ cooperation among competitors,” he said.

Trump announced last month that the U.S. would back out of a deal with Iran and world powers that sought to curb the country’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief. 

In announcing his decision, Trump also warned that the U.S. would impose the “highest level” of sanctions on Tehran. 

Before it slapped penalties on Iran, the U.S. unofficially asked Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers to increase oil production to try to curb price increases, Reuters reported. 

Iran is seeking to bring up what it calls “illegal sanctions” at the organization’s next meeting on June 22.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are bitter regional rivals in the Middle East, and the Saudi government strongly opposed the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration. 

Trump has sought a strengthened U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia.