Iran seeks OPEC support against US sanctions - Reuters

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh urged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to support Iran, the OPEC’s no. 3 oil producer, against the new US sanctions, in a letter seen by Reuters.

Zanganeh noted: “I would like to ... seek OPEC’s support in accordance with Article 2 of the OPEC Statute, which emphasizes safeguarding the interests of member countries individually and collectively.”

Zanganeh also suggested in the letter that Iran was not in agreement with some OPEC ministers’ recent comments on the oil market.

He added some OPEC ministers “have implicitly or unwittingly spoken for the organization, expressing views that might be perceived as the official position of the OPEC.” 

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Zanganeh’s letter was addressed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei, who holds OPEC presidency in 2018.

Zanganeh also said that if the latest US sanctions threat was resolved “Iran reserves the right to return to its oil market share in the shortest possible time and resumes its normal production-level and will not accept any limitations in this regard.”

Zanganeh asked Mazrouei to include a separate agenda item for the June OPEC meeting entitled “OPEC Ministerial Conference support to the Member Countries that are under illegal, unilateral and extraterritorial sanctions.”