U.S. President Donald Trump, who recently called on OPEC producers to help reduce oil prices, has raised prices through his tweets, Iranian OPEC Governor Hossein Ardebili was quoted as saying by news agency SHANA on Thursday.
“Your tweets have increased the prices by at least $10. Please stop this method,” the oil ministry news agency quoted Kazempour Ardebili as saying.
Kazempour Ardebili said Trump was trying to intensify tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia and he called on the United States to join world powers in a meeting with Iran in Vienna on Friday.
Foreign ministers from the five remaining signatories of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers will meet Iranian officials in Vienna to discuss how to keep the accord alive after the U.S. withdrawal from the pact.
NAN reports that on Twitter, Trump called on OPEC countries, fresh from a meeting in which they decided to raise oil output by an indeterminate amount, to do more to bring down crude prices.
Trump indirectly linked U.S. foreign policy to his demand, saying the U.S. defends some oil producing countries “for very little” money.
The president’s call to “reduce pricing” was an apparent reference for oil producers to churn out more supply in order to contain spiking oil prices.
On Tuesday, crude closed near 78 dollars per barrel, driven higher by a sharp drop in U.S. inventories and the expectation of more drivers hitting the road for the July 4 holiday.
Barely a week after OPEC’s decision to ramp up oil supplies,Trump surprised the world on Saturday by announcing a new side agreement with the Saudis to compensate for supply shortages from two crisis-hit producers,Iran and Venezuela.
Both countries resisted the oil cartel’s decision in June, even though OPEC demurred on how much it would boost supply.
