Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh talks to journalists at the beginning of an OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria, November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader/File Photo
“Americans talk a lot and I advise them to talk less. They have caused tensions in the oil market for over a year now and they are responsible for it, and if this trend continues, the market will be more tense,”US crude futures briefly hit a 2019 high on Friday but later retreated along with benchmark Brent oil as worries about the global economy and robust US production put a brake on prices.
Washington granted waivers to eight major buyers of Iranian oil after the US reimposed sanctions on Iran’s oil sector in November, after withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.