‘Iran has no plans to leave OPEC’

Fellow members have treated Iran like an enemy alleges Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh

GENEVA: Iran has no plans to leave the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) despite being treated like an enemy by some fellow members, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in an interview published on Saturday. “Iran has no plans to leave OPEC...and regrets that some members of OPEC have turned this organisation into a political forum for confronting two founding members of OPEC, meaning Iran and Venezuela,” Zanganeh told the Iranian parliament news site ICANA. “And two regional countries are showing enmity toward us in this organisation. We are not their enemy but they are showing enmity toward us...and (they) use oil as a weapon against us in the global market and world.” Zanganeh did not name the two countries. Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - both US allies - have spiked this year after the two said they would increase oil production to make up for Iranian crude cut off from the market by US sanctions.  

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2019.

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