Iran's oil minister asks Trump to stop meddling in Mideast
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh blasted US President Donald Trump for threatening the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to lower crude prices, calling on him to stop interference in the Middle-East.
"Trump is attempting to decrease Iran's oil exports seriously and wants oil prices not to hike (but), these two are not possible concurrently," Zanganeh said, addressing a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday.
"If Trump wants oil prices not to increase and does not want a destabilized market, he should stop improper and tension-making meddling in the important Middle-East region and should not prevent production and exports of Iran's oil," he added.
Zanganeh referred to the last night remarks by French President Emanuel Macron in New York, and said he has also blamed Trump and his distorting policies for instability in the market.
Addressing at the 73rd UN General Assembly session in New York on Tuesday, Trump took another hit at OPEC nations, demanding that some OPEC member states should contribute substantially for military protection provided by the US.
"OPEC and OPEC nations are as usual ripping off the rest of the world," Trump said, adding that "we defend many of these nations for nothing and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good".
“I don’t like it and nobody should like it. We defend many of these nations for nothing and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices… We want them to start lowering prices… we are not going to put up with it, these horrible prices, much longer,” he noted.
The US president further warned European nations not to be dependent on Russian energy, accusing Berlin of allowing itself to become completely reliant on Russian energy supplies with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
"Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course," he stated, while praising Poland for developing alternative pipelines.
Trump accused countries of "abusing" the US market's openness, "relentless product dumping, forced technology transfer, and the theft of intellectual property".
In a direct attack on China, the US president pointed to the loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs, stating that "those days are over. We will no longer tolerate such abuse".
Noting the world trade system is in dire need of change, Trump suggested that the World Trade Organization "violates every principle" on which it is based.
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