Iran regrets falling oil price, terms it a conspiracy

Tehran, Dec 18, IRNA - Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh says a conspiracy is behind the continuing oil price slide. “The prolongation of the downward trend of oil price in world markets is a political conspiracy going to extremes,” the minister said, according to shana.ir. Speaking at a local meeting in Tehran, he said that the falling oil prices initially stemmed from overglut in markets. He referred to the recent ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and said: “In that meeting, I noted that Iran, whose oil exports have declined in recent years due to sanctions, will by no means agree to scale back on its share in the oil market.” “We have to make efforts to overcome the sanctions by resistance and force,” said Zanganeh. In related news, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif regretted lack of cooperation between oil rich Middle Eastern countries for controlling the falling oil prices. “It is regrettable that regional [oil-producing] countries are not cooperating on the falling oil prices and its negative implications,” Zarif said in a meeting with Iraqi Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri in the Iranian capital on Tuesday. On Tuesday oil prices fell below $55b for US crude and were even lower for other regions of the world which has been unprecedented since May 2009. The five-year low was exacerbated following a refusal by some major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, to cut their crude output. In another development, a high-ranking Iranian military commander said Saudi Arabia through its petrodollars has financed the rise of terrorist and Takfiri militant groups, including ISIL, in the Middle East. “By increasing its oil production, Saudi Arabia gave assurances to the United States and the West, which represent the world super capitalists, that they would not face any fuel shortage. Additionally, it exerted a financial burden on the anti-terrorist countries of the region fighting against ISIL through the decline in oil prices and subsequent drop in revenues,” Major General Firouzabadi pointed out. Firouzabadi said regional countries have suffered 500 billion dollars in losses while Western states which had been grappling with financial crises have been gifted 300 billion dollars as a result of the Saudi actions./end