Iran sets scene for tough OPEC meeting, opposes date change

Iran has told OPEC that it opposes delaying the oil producer group’s next meeting, setting the scene for another fight with fellow members as U.S. sanctions put Tehran under unprecedented economic pressure with its oil exports down to just a trickle.

OPEC gatherings are often fraught due to acrimony between Iran and its arch-rival Saudi Arabia, the group’s de facto leader and top global oil exporter.

The last time the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to agree a clear oil-output strategy was in 2016, after Iran insisted on steeply raising its production following the lifting of Western sanctions against it.

The United States reimposed sanctions on Tehran last year, and as a result, Iranian oil exports have collapsed to a fraction of their normal levels.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that Saudi Arabia compensate for the drop in Iranian supplies by increasing its own production, a move that Iran has said undermines the proper functioning of OPEC.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, in a letter seen by Reuters, said he disagreed with an OPEC proposal to reschedule the group’s next meeting to early July.