Oil price rally cools but war of words intensifies as Iran and Trump exchange jibes
The oil price rally has cooled off after the US said it would ensure the market was well supplied before imposing sanctions on Iran and Donald Trump continued his attacks on Opec.
Brent Crude Oil dropped to $81.62 per barrel on Wednesday from a four-year high of $82.55 the previous day – WTI Crude also dropped 0.3 per cent to $72.05.
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US envoy to Iran, Brian Hook, said Washington would ensure it had a “well supplied oil market” before reimposing sanctions on Iran on 4 November.
Trump told world leaders at the UN summit in New York that Opec nations were “ripping off the rest of the world”, continuing his criticism of the oil cartel over high prices.
Opec, which includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait among others, and non-Opec nations such as Russia met on Sunday and decided not to increase production quotas amid impending sanctions on Iran – defying the US President.
The war of words intensified on Wednesday when Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told Trump to stop interfering in the Middle East if he wanted cheaper oil prices.
Read more: Saudi Arabia and Russia defy Trump's calls for oil production boost
He said: “Mr Trump is trying to seriously reduce exports of Iran's oil and also ensure the price of oil does not go up, but these two cannot happen together,” according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.
He added: “If he wants the price of oil not to go up and the market not to get destabilized, he should stop unwarranted and disruptive interference in the Middle East and not be an obstacle to the production and export of Iran's oil.”