West suffered from sanctions against Iran, Russia: Iranian diplomat

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Iranian Deputy Energy Minister, Ahmad Asadzadeh, told Sputnik on Thursday that the West, having imposed sanctions against Tehran and Moscow, suffered from these sanctions itself and faced an energy crisis.

"Now the world needs gas and oil. It would be good to treat this topic carefully, to take a transparent position. Sanctions against Iran and Russia are not good for the West, it will suffer from them. Today there is a gas crisis in Europe, there are problems. The same is true for oil," Asadzadeh explained.

On Wednesday, the Iranian diplomat also considered that the West will not be able to hold Russia and Iran accountable for the issues related to the West's need for energy resources.

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"I want to say that the countries of Europe and the US will not be able to shift the responsibility to satisfy their needs in the oil sector and the energy crisis on us," Asadzadeh told Sputnik.

OPEC+ countries agreed in a Wednesday meeting on steep oil cuts and reduced production by two million barrels per day.

Following the meeting, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak commented on the possible price cap of the EU and told reporters that Russia will continue supplying oil only to consumers who will ensure market-based pricing mechanisms.  

"Such precedents will greatly harm the energy market, it will only lead to shortages, to higher prices," Novak warned, pointing out that "we believe that it is not advisable for us to provide supplies with the introduction of such an instrument to those consumers who will use price caps."

"We will continue to supply only to those who provide market-based mechanisms of pricing," he added.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman said that OPEC+ is prepared to adapt to the situation even if it worsens.

"It goes both ways, it does not go one way... We shall act and react to what is happening to the world global economy in the most responsible way," the Minister said during a press conference.

It is noteworthy that Iran has been under Western sanctions for years, primarily due to its nuclear program, with the sides negotiating a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna with no tangible results.

In the same context, energy prices have been surging globally since 2021. After the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the adoption of several packages of sanctions against Moscow by the West, fuel prices have accelerated the growth, pushing many Western governments to resort to contingency measures.

Read more: New EU sanctions against Russia to go into effect tomorrow - reports

OPEC+ decision to cut production 'shortsighted': Biden

On his part, US President Joe Biden expressed disappointment in the OPEC+ alliance's "shortsighted decision" to cut oil production against the background of supply issues, according to Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor, and Brian Deese, National Economic Council Director. 

"The President is disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC+ to cut production quotas while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine," the two officials indicated in a joint statement.

Sullivan and Deese considered that "at a time when maintaining a global supply of energy is of paramount importance, this decision will have the most negative impact on lower- and middle-income countries that are already reeling from elevated energy prices."

"In light of today’s action, the Biden Administration will also consult with Congress on additional tools and authorities to reduce OPEC's control over energy prices," the joint statement read.

This comes as the US is concerned that OPEC's probable decision to reduce oil production will pose serious problems for the country and may even be interpreted as a hostile act, according to a US Treasury report.

The Biden administration assembled its top energy, economic, and foreign policy officials and entrusted them with lobbying Middle East allies such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait to vote against decreasing oil production.

To persuade its OPEC allies, the US proposed to purchase back up to 200 million barrels of oil from its OPEC partners.

Biden had previously tried to convince the organization to increase its oil output in a bid to cool the red-hot energy prices, traveling to Saudi Arabia with hopes of persuading Saudi Arabia to promise to increase its oil output and relieve the pressure on the global supply chain.

However, the price of oil rose even further after he left West Asia without striking a deal with Saudi Arabia on Riyadh pumping out more oil.