President Donald Trump cannot bring oil prices down by “bullying” other nations, Iran’s oil minister said on Tuesday, stressing that the market was suffering from short supply, Reuters informed.
U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports are due to kick in on November 4, and the Trump administration has been pushing its allies to cut Iranian oil imports and encouraging Saudi Arabia, other OPEC states and Russia to pump more oil to meet any shortfall.
“The oil market is suffering from short supply and this cannot be resolved by words. Trump thinks he can bring the oil prices down by bullying,” Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said, according to the semi-official news agency ILNA.
The Iranian said the rise of oil prices was a “self-inflicted pain” caused by U.S. sanctions against Iranian energy exports, and could be resolved by lifting the measures. “Everyone is worried and Trump has failed to reassure them. That’s why the market is in turmoil,” he said.
Zanganeh also said the Washington “has done most of the things it could do, and there is not much left to do against Iran,” according to comments reported by Iran’s ISNA agency.
The Trump administration said this month it would consider waivers for Iranian oil buyers such as India, although it said they would eventually have to halt imports from Iran, the third biggest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Meanwhile, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani claims that the current U.S. administration is the most “spiteful” towards Iran of any American government in 40 years, the Independent writes.
Insisting the U.S. wanted regime change in Iran despite Washington’s repeated denials, Rouhani said that Washington was using psychological and economic warfare to try and destroy the Islamic Republic.
“In the past 40 years there has not been a more spiteful team than the current U.S. government team towards Iran, Iranians and the Islamic Republic,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast on state television.
According to Reuters, Rouhani, delivering a speech to mark the start of the academic year at Tehran University, added: “There was a time when there was one person who had enmity. The rest were moderate. Now…the worst have gathered around each other.”
The U.S. this spring started reimposing sanctions on Iran that were frozen in 2015, after Trump’s announcement he was withdrawing from the eight-party Iran nuclear deal that was agreed to by previous president Barack Obama.
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