"It is a necessity for the oil producers to form a united front against these two countries," Rapporteur of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told FNA on Wednesday.
He underlined that all countries know that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are behind the sharp decline in crude prices.
The senior Iranian legislator pointed to the annual loss of over $1.1 billion for Saudi Arabia as a result of the drop in crude prices, and said, "No country would take an action which results in its own loss, and this shows that the crude prices are falling due to political objectives."
Naqavi Hosseini recalled President Hassan Rouhani’s remarks in Bushehr about the decline in oil prices, and said the president also named Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as the main actors responsible for the reduction of oil prices.
On Tuesday, President Rouhani downplayed the effects of falling oil prices on the country’s economy, and said those who have hatched or played a role in the plot to decrease crude prices will be harmed more than Iran.
"You should know that those who have plotted the fall in oil prices against certain countries will regret their deeds. This path cannot be continued and you should know that if Iran is harmed by the falling oil prices, other producing countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, will sustain more losses than Iran," Rouhani said, addressing a gathering of people in the Southern city of Bushehr.
He noted that 80% of Saudi Arabia and 95% of Kuwait’s annual budgets depend on crude sales, adding that only 33% of Iran’s this year budget relies on oil revenues.
Stressing that the government has foreseen ways to cope with falling oil prices, Rouhani said, "We will increase non-oil exports this year."
Also in December, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said exports of crude was just one of Iran’s sources of revenue and the country could live up without oil sales and through exports of its rich mineral resources, modern industries, and talented people.
"We have different methods and scenarios to run the country under different circumstances and we will not forget which countries are conspiring to reduce oil prices,” Larijani said during a visit to Syria.
He said that the same countries conspired against Iran in the 1980s when Iran was at war with Iraq.
“It would be a mistake if they (certain governments) imagine that they can change the strategic situation of the (Middle East) region through oil (price),” said Larijani.
