Iran Urges Saudi Arabia to Help Stop Oil Price Decline: Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian official said that Tehran has asked Riyadh to help prevent the continued decline in oil price in a bid to protect the growing economies of other oil producing countries in the region.
“We have told Saudi Arabian officials through diplomatic channels that they should prevent the enemies of the region from harming the growing economies of regional countries,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said in an interview with Al Alam News TV channel.
Amir Abdollahian emphasized that Iran held negotiations with Saudi officials on the sidelines of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meetings, and sent the message to the Arab country, calling on Saudi officials to adopt a policy that benefits the whole region.
"We expect Saudi Arabia to play its major role in (controlling) crude prices to help the regional countries. Unfortunately we have witnessed a series of strategic blunders in the region including sponsoring terrorism to change the political situation in Syria and Iraq and intentional or unintentional cooperation with ultra-regional countries to reduce oil prices in an effort to undermine the growing regional economies," Abdollahian concluded.
Over the past six months, the oil prices have fallen about 50 percent due to a glut of supplies by certain oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said that the decline of crude oil price is not just an economic issue, but the result of a political plot hatched by certain states.
Earlier last week, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the “strange fall” in oil prices is a political ploy and unrelated to the market.