Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said the country had no plans to exit the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
“Iran has no plans to withdraw from OPEC,” he said in an interview with state news agency ICANA, which noted that he expressed regret that some OPEC members had turned the organisation into a political hub against Iran and Venezuela.
“Oil is not a weapon and it should not be politicised; we have always said that the oil market should be a-political and oil should not be used as a weapon, because it would hurt OPEC and its members, and I believe that these countries are taking OPEC towards collapse, but we want OPEC to be preserved; these two countries will undermine this organisation by instigating infighting in OPEC.”
He added that the supply shortage caused by US sanctions against Iran could not be filled by other OPEC members. “No one can compensate for this vacuum,” he said.
Zangeneh confirmed that he would attend the upcoming OPEC meeting in Vienna later in June.
