Iran says Trump’s oil bans to backfire on US

Iran says the US would eventually shoot itself in the foot if it sanctions purchases of Iranian oil by international corporations.

Iran's OPEC governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili was quoted by media as saying that US President Donald Trump's pressure on international firms not to buy Iranian oil would drive prices higher and end up hurting the American economy.

Ardebili also emphasized that oil should not be used as a weapon or to make political gains.

"Trump's demand that Iranian oil should not be bought, and (his) pressures on European firms at a time when Nigeria and Libya are in crisis, when Venezuela's oil exports have fallen due to US sanctions, when Saudi's domestic consumption has increased in summer, is nothing but a self harm," he was quoted as saying by Iran’s Shana news agency in a report that was also carried by Reuters.

"It will increase the prices of oil in the global markets," he said. "At the end it is the American consumer who will pay the price for Mr. Trump's policy," Ardebili added.

SS