Iran Urges OPEC to Unite Against Looming US Oil Sanctions

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian is asking OPEC members to stick together. He is worried about possible US sanctions on Iran’s oil. US President Donald Trump said he wants to stop Iran’s oil exports. Iran sells about 1.5 million barrels of oil every day. Most of it goes to China. If Iran can’t sell this oil, it will be a big problem for the world’s oil supply.

Pezeshkian talked about this at a meeting with OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais. OPEC is a group of oil-producing countries. They work together to control oil prices. Iran is the president of OPEC this year. Pezeshkian said that if OPEC countries work together, the US won’t be able to put sanctions on them.

Trump is trying to put a lot of pressure on Iran. He wants to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. During President Joe Biden’s time, Iran’s oil exports were the highest since 2018. This happened even though the US had sanctions on Iran. Iran is not following the rules set by OPEC+ countries about how much oil they can produce.

Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad also spoke about this. He told Al Ghais that putting sanctions on oil producers is a bad idea. He said it will make the energy market unstable. It will also hurt people who buy oil all around the world.

In the past, when Trump put sanctions on Iran, Iran’s oil exports dropped a lot. In 2020, Iran was only able to sell 200,000 barrels of oil per day in some months. In 2018, OPEC and other countries decided to produce more oil to make up for the loss caused by the sanctions.

Iran is asking OPEC countries to unite against possible US sanctions. They believe that working together will help them avoid these sanctions. The US wants to stop Iran’s oil exports to put pressure on Iran. This could cause problems for the world’s oil supply. OPEC countries need to decide if they will support Iran in this situation.