Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh rejected claims that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can replace the reduced share of the Islamic Republic in the global oil market, saying no country can do that because of the “fragile” market.

In remarks released on Saturday, Zanganeh emphasized that “nobody” can make up for the gap created by the lost share of Iran’s oil in the global market.

“The market is unstable and fragile and these countries (Saudi Arabia and the UAE) make all their efforts to prevent oil prices from increasing through propaganda…,” he said.

The minister went on to say that Saudi and UAE’s attempts are in line with the interests of the US and the Zionist regime and to the detriment of oil producers, including the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Tasnim news agency reported.

The remarks came against the backdrop of increased tensions between Iran and the US with Washington imposing new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The US has ratcheted up pressure on Iran since last year after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Since then, the administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to reduce Iran’s oil exports to “zero,” and has sent an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber squad, an amphibious assault ship, and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to try to stack up pressure on Tehran.

Iranian officials, however, have dismissed such moves as psychological warfare, saying the country has its own ways of circumventing the American bans and selling crude oil.

Source: Iranian media