PressTV-Trump ‘taken hostage’ by Saudis: Iran OPEC governor

Iran’s OPEC governor says US President Donald Trump has apparently been duped by Saudi Arabia into believing that the kingdom can replace Iranian barrels cut from the market.

The White House said last month that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman had promised Trump to raise oil production and that the kingdom had 2 million barrels per day of spare capacity to boost output to offset a decline in supply from Iran.

“It seems President Trump has been taken hostage by Saudi Arabia and a few producers when they claimed they can replace 2.5 million barrels per day of Iranian exports, encouraging him to take action against Iran,” Hossein Kazempour Ardebili was quoted as saying.

The Trump administration has been pushing countries to cut all imports of Iranian oil from November 4 when the United States re-imposes sanctions against the Islamic Republic’s banking and petroleum sector.

However, US officials have softened their stance after initially saying…

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