TEHRAN (Shana) -- Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh said US President Trump's recent tweet on oil prices was the biggest insult to Washington's allies in the Middle East.
"Today, the JMMC meeting is being held in Algeria, and I hope that the outcome of this meeting will not be affected by President Trump's threatening tweet, which stated that "We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us," Mr. Zanganeh said on Sunday.
"In my view, President Trump's statement is the biggest insult to the governments and nations of the United States' allies in the region. Word has gotten out that the JMMC, operating beyond its mandate, is to provide a figure for increasing oil supply under the pretext of the so-called 'offsetting shortages caused by Iran's Production Reduction'."
He further said: "I hope that such threats would not frighten some of my colleagues to follow President Trump's instructions. OPEC is an organization independent of the United States and I hope it will remain so."
Trump on Thursday write on Twitter: “We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!”
The Joint OPEC-Non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) is being convened in Algiers with the oil and energy minister of OPEC and non-OPEC countries including Russia.
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