Present Trump’s recent tweets urging the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reduce oil prices are actually having the opposite effect and driving prices up “by at least $10 per barrel” — one of Iran’s top oil officials said on Thursday.
“You are hammering on good guys in OPEC,” Iran’s OPEC representative Hossein Kzempour Ardebili said in a message published by Iranian Oil Ministry’s Shana news service. “You are actually discrediting them and undermining their sovereignty. We expect you to be more polite.”
Mr. Kzempour Ardebil also slammed Mr. Trump for withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear accord, negotiated by the Obama administration to curb Iran’s nuclear programs in exchange for a lifting of strong international economic sanctions. Since abandoning the deal in May, Washington has begun re-imposed sanctions on Tehran in addition to working behind the scenes to significantly cut Iran’s oil exports, which has created market volatility.
“You impose sanctions on major producers, founders of OPEC, and yet you are asking them to reduce the prices?! Since when did you start ordering OPEC! Your tweets have driven the prices up by at least $10/b,” Mr. Kzempour Ardebil said, adding “Pls stop it, otherwise it will go even higher!”
Mr. Kzempour Ardebil’s attacks came a day after Mr. Trump hammered OPEC for its inability to stop oil prices from rising.
The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up & they are doing little to help. If anything, they are driving prices higher as the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s. This must be a two way street. REDUCE PRICING NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2018
On Wednesday — the July 4th holiday — oil prices reached a multiyear high, according to the Energy Information Administration, with retail gas prices rising to $2.96 a gallon.
Recent days have seen an intensifying war of words between Washington and Tehran over oil prices. Mr. Trump has put pressure on Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations to increase oil production to offset possible losses of Iran supply — while Iran on Tuesday threatened to close the strategically critical oil route, the Straits of Hormuz, in response to Mr. Trump reimposing sanctions.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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