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Iran suggests initiators of oil output freeze reduce their quotas first — official

Speaker of the Majlis (Parliament) of Iran Ali Larijani commented on the situation on the oil market in an interview with TASS

© AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Iran proposes that initiators of freezing oil production reduce their quotas first, Speaker of the Majlis (Parliament) of Iran Ali Larijani said on Thursday in an interview with TASS.

Speaking with the news agency general director Mikhail Gusman, the Iranian politician said:

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"Let the initiators of 'freezing' [of oil production] freeze their quota. They cannot ignore the rules that were set earlier. Look, over the last year the price of oil fell. Why did it happen? While Iran was holding talks on the nuclear issue, one of the countries [Larijani did not name the country -TASS] established contact with US State Secretary. Than that country allegedly agreed with him that they will reduce the price of oil. The market conditions were not so acute for oil to become cheaper," Larijani said.

"I agree that there is an excess of supply on the market, but earlier the proposal also exceeded the demand, while the price of oil was $100 per barrel."

"Therefore, I believe that it is the political conditions that "spoiled" oil prices," Larijani said.

At the same time the Iranian Speaker did not specify the name of the country, which affected the oil market quotes. "This country caused damage to itself, to us and you, too. It seems to me, that it set a goal - to harm Iran and Russia," he said.

According to him, "this policy was not successful, on the contrary, Russia took a more decisive stance on regional issues, Iran also began to show more determination."

"After all the decisions that we wanted to take, eventually were accepted. And now there are calls to take action to address the issue of falling oil prices," Larijani said.

"Those countries that suggest this step, should be the first to "freeze" their production quotas rather than think that our quota of 2 million barrels per day. We are determined to choose our quota, and if we want to make decisions in OPEC together, they should not put pressure on Iran first, and then say, under pressure: "Freeze your production," he said.

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