U.S. President Donald Trump, who recently called on OPEC producers to help reduce oil prices, has raised prices through his tweets, Iranian OPEC Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili was quoted as saying by news agency SHANA on Thursday.
"Your tweets have increased the prices by at least $10. Please stop this method," the oil ministry news agency quoted Kazempour Ardebili as saying.
Kazempour Ardebili said Trump was trying to intensify tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia and he called on the United States to join world powers in a meeting with Iran in Vienna on Friday.
Foreign ministers from the five remaining signatories of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers will meet Iranian officials in Vienna to discuss how to keep the accord alive after the U.S. withdrawal from the pact.
Strait of Hormuz threat
The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday their forces were ready to implement Iran's threat to block the Strait of Hormuz and that if Iran cannot sell its oil under the U.S. pressure, no other regional country will be allowed to.
"We are hopeful that this plan expressed by our president will be implemented if needed ... We will make the enemy understand that either all can use the Strait of Hormuz or no one," Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
