Iran urges Saudi to help stop crude price slump

TEHRAN (Xinhua) - Tehran wants Riyadh to help stop the continuous oil price slump so as to protect the economies of the region's oil producing countries, Tasnim news agency quoted a senior Iranian foreign ministry official as saying on Saturday.

"We have told Saudi Arabian officials through diplomatic channels that they should prevent the enemies of the region from harming the growing economies of regional countries," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir- Abdollahian said.

The talks were held between the officials of the two countries on the sidelines of a recent meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

They urged the all related nations in the area to adopt an oil policy that benefits the whole region, he said.

"We expect Saudi Arabia to play its major role in (controlling)  crude prices to help the regional countries," he said.

The senior Iranian diplomat also said the oil price decline was a product of "intentional or unintentional" schemes by some countries to undermine the growing economies in the region.

On Tuesday, Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, said that some major oil producing countries, including Saudi Arabia, will suffer more than Iran in the face of slumping crude prices.

In the budget for the next Iranian year, starting on March 21, one third of the government's revenues is dependant on oil sales, while more than 80 percent of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait's annual budget relies on oil exports, Rouhani said.

Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil exporter within OPEC, has ignored Iran's call to cut oil output.

Oil prices have tumbled almost 50 percent to below 50 US dollars per barrel recently.

Iran's economy is heavily reliant on oil exports. Beside the losses from declining oil prices, Iran's crude exports have fallen 60 percent to one million barrels a day due to Western sanctions on its energy and financial sectors.

Tehran is planning to lower the crude oil price for the next year's budget to 40 US dollars a barrel, Iran's Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ali Tayyebnia was quoted as saying by Tehran Times daily on Saturday.

The government is revising its draft budget to assume a base price of 40 US dollars from the previously-proposed 72 US dollars a barrel, Tayyebnia said.

Apart from the oil issue, Iran and Saudi Arabia are also divided over a number of regional issues including the situations in Syria, Bahrain, Iraq and Yemen.

On Saturday, Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif had plans to visit Saudi Arabia for talks on a host of topics.

He later cancelled the plan after his Saudi counterpart Saud al-Faisal expressed "baseless allegations against the Islamic republic with regard to Syria," Press TV reported.

"We were making preparations for Zarif's visit to Saudi Arabia and a schedule had been set for his trip, but unfortunately, sharp and unexpected remarks of Saudi foreign minister prevented this visit," Amir-Abdollahian said.

He also mentioned recent remarks by Saud al-Faisal, who allegedly described Iran as "part of the problem, not the solution" in Syria.

"Over the past couple of months, we witnessed some progress in our diplomatic talks with Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Arabia behaved in a way that was not favorable to the Islamic Republic of Iran and such behaviors stir concerns in the region," Amir-Abdollahian added.

The Iranian diplomat urged Saudi officials to revise their current policies so that they would help promote "solidarity and unity" in the region.