Putin says no need for OPEC+ to intervene in oil market due to Iran-Israel conflict
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 20 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that oil prices had not risen significantly due to the conflict between Iran and Israel, and that there was no need for the OPEC+ group of oil producers to intervene in oil markets.
Oil prices have rallied as a week-old air war between Israel and Iran escalated and uncertainty about potential U.S. involvement kept investors on edge, with Brent crude futures touching their highest since late January.
Putin said the price of oil now stands at around $75 per barrel, while before the conflict escalated it stood at $65.
"Of course, we see that the current situation in the Middle East, the current situation related to the conflict between Iran and Israel, has led to a certain increase in prices. But this increase, in the opinion of our experts, is not significant," Putin told the St Petersburg Economic Forum.
Iran is the third largest producer among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Hostilities could disrupt its supply of oil and thereby increase prices.
Putin also said OPEC and allies including Russia - a group known as OPEC+, which pumps about half of the world's oil - were increasing oil output, but doing so gradually, to ensure balance in the oil market and "comfortable" prices.
"We will all see together how the situation unfolds. So far no immediate response is required," he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
32 minutes ago
- The Sun
Iran plots to activate terrorist sleeper cell network across West in desperate last act in face of Israeli destruction
A 'VULNERABLE' IRAN may activate a network of sleeper cells across the West in the face of the Israeli bombing campaign, experts have warned. With its military and top Islamist leadership on the ropes, analysts say a weakened Iran could resort to asymmetric terror warfare in a bid to sow chaos against its enemies. 4 4 4 It has now been more than a week since Israel began pounding Iran's nuclear facilities and other military targets. The goal, as the Israelis say, is to thwart the Iranian regime's efforts to produce nuclear weapons - as well as more ballistic missiles, including long-range weapons that can strike targets far beyond Israel. While Iran has been responding by launching frequent salvos of ballistic missiles, its top military command has been decapitated. And Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been forced to live in underground bunkers. Experts now fear that a vicious Iran could awaken its network of sleeper cells to carry out terror plots across the West. Barak Seener, a security and defence expert at Henry Jackson Society and Iran expert, said: "The very fact now that the Iranian regime is volatile, it's targeted, and it's highly vulnerable — that's what actually makes it increasingly dangerous to the West." Iran's murderous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is thought to run an extensive network of sleeper cells across the world. Mr Seener said that these sleeper cells could be regular people living regular lives. But when given the signal, they could carry out terrorist activities targeting the West. These terror operations could target public infrastructure and even civilians, with no weapons off the table, experts warn. The sleeper cells could even carry out assassination attempts on top leaders that could throw the world into chaos. Last year, an Iranian agent was charged with plotting to kill Donald Trump in an assassination that would have shaken the world. US prosecutors say the rogue state told ex-con Farhad Shakeri — said to be hiding in Tehran — to devise a seven-day plan to spy on and murder him. Prosecutors said an official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard told Shakeri to devise a plan to eliminate the President elect. They claim the planned hit was an attempt to take vengeance for a US drone strike ordered by Trump that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, then said to be the world's No1 terrorist, in 2020. Trump's former security advisor, John Bolton, said the US President is "at the top" of an 'assassination list' from the Middle East nation. Mr Seener said: "They live amongst us in regular communities, have regular jobs, and they just are awaiting being activated to conduct malign activities, whether it be through a telephone text or a beeper, and then they already know what they are going to be doing. "If the regime feels threatened and on the verge of being toppled, then they may say, 'you're going to go down with us,' and at that point they may unleash their sleeper cells." In an op-ed for The Sun, expert Mark Almond wrote: "Iran's Islamic regime is a dangerous, wounded predator. "It cannot defeat Israel, but it could go mad and unleash terrorism, even using chemical weapons, which its industries can make much more easily than nuclear weapons." 4 Mr Seener said the attacks could range from an attack against a synagogue, an embassy, or blowing up a dirty bomb in Central London. Sir Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, warned back in October that Iran could turn on UK targets if it felt Britain was too enthusiastic in its support for Israel. He said the attacks could increase if the Middle East conflict intensifies. In August, Matt Jukes, the head of Counter Terror Policing, warned that Britain is facing an increase in plots by hostile states. He said Iranian dissidents and diaspora communities have been 'clearly at risk of kidnapping or assassination'. "These are people who are doing it daily. And when you are projecting soft power, you're creating the cultural milieu in which terrorism can be conducted much more readily. Counterterror police have investigated 15 of these cases alongside MI5. MI5 has responded to 20 plots backed by Iran since 2022, it was reported. Mr Seener said: "The reason why the Irgc can act with impunity, and why British citizens are at risk, is because of the British Government's unwillingness and failure to designate the Irgc as a terrorist organisation. "It means that they are able to conduct activities and infiltrate mosques, charities, community centres, cultural centres, and many of them, their directorship has been directly appointed by the supreme leader, Khamenei." "British Shias go on pilgrimages to religious sites in Iran and Iraq. They are targeted by the IRGC and recruited, so that when they return to the UK, they can conduct surveillance on potential targets." Iran's terror on UK street By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter Iran-fuelled hit squads on the streets of the UK have been linked to at least 15 threats to kill or kidnap detected by authorities. They are all part of a campaign of intimidation aimed at those who speak out against the hardline regime. The MI5 has accused Tehran of more than a dozen assassination and kidnap plots in Britain against dissidents and media organisations in the past two years. Officials have previously warned that the threat against Iranian critics living in the UK has ramped up drastically after the horror October 7 attacks. And given the hostile situation in the Middle East, Iran could ramp up its secret terror activities in the UK, Europe and the US, experts fear. In 2022, Major Gen Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC warned: "You've tried us before. Watch out because we're coming for you." Last year, Iranian TV journalist Pouria Zeraati was stabbed outside his home in London, sparking an investigation led by counter-terrorism police. The suspects were believed to be proxy agents hired by Tehran. Mr Zeraati works for Iran International, a London-based Persian-speaking channel which has reported on Iran's human rights violations. He said a man approached him and asked for £3 before another man appeared and stabbed him in the leg. The two fled in a car being driven by a third man, leaving Mr Zeraati bleeding in the street. Investigators believed the three culprits were able to flee the country on a flight from Heathrow within hours of the attack. Mr Zeraati, whose organisation has been a vocal critic of Iran, said the attack was a "warning shot" from Tehran. He called on the UK government to declare the IRGC a terrorist group to stop it from spreading its doctrine. He said: "It will also send a clear message to the regime in Iran that enough is enough. "The whole of Western civilisation is in danger because of the threat the IRGC poses." A report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) found almost half of journalists who covered Iran from the UK reported being physically or verbally harassed in the past five years. Individuals have been sent death threats by text and voice notes, with one message noting that the 'water underneath Westminster Bridge was very deep'. One said they were constantly worried about Iran targeting their children, saying: 'I wake up in the middle of the night. I check my son to see if he's there. I won't let him play in the garden on his own. I have to be there. I'm on alert constantly.' Another reporter told the RSF she had a package, which was designed to look like it contained anthrax, hand-delivered to her apartment block. While female TV journalist was approached on a London bus by a man who told her: 'We will kill you. You are a very bad person.' All of them are understood to have voiced their dissent against Tehran. The IRGC is the principal supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are proscribed in the UK. Amid threats of all-out war in the Middle East, officials last year wanted to expedite tightening domestic terror laws to ban IRGC operatives from nurturing Islamist terrorism at home. Current sanctions on Iran do not prevent state-linked organisations spreading jihadi propaganda or carrying out soft-power activities designed to radicalize British citizens. Kasra Aarabi, Director of IRGC Research at United Against Nuclear Iran, said: 'The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most antisemitic armed Islamist extremist organisation in the world. 'The government needs to proscribe the IRGC as a matter of urgency. 'The failure to proscribe the IRGC is putting British lives at risk, not least those from the British-Jewish community and British-Iranian diaspora —the two primary targets of IRGC terrorism in the UK.'
The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Iran says diplomacy with US only possible if Israeli aggression stops
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said that his country is only ready for more diplomacy with the US if Israel's war on his country is brought to an end 'and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes he committed'. After several hours of talks with European foreign ministers in Geneva on Friday, there was no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough – or a resumption of negotiations with the US. Araghchi said: 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed. We support the continuation of discussion with [Britain, France, Germany and the EU] and express our readiness to meet again in the near future.' Araghchi said he was willing to continue talks with his European counterparts since they have not supported Israel's attacks directly. But he said Iran was 'seriously concerned over the failure of the three countries to condemn Israel's act of aggression' and would continue to exercise its right to 'legitimite defence'. He also said Iran's capabilities, including its missile capabilities, are non-negotiable, and could not form part of the talks, a rebuff to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who in an earlier statement said they should be included in the talks. With Israeli diplomats and military commanders warning of a 'prolonged war,' the route to direct talks between the US and Iran remains blocked, leaving the European countries as intermediaries. After Friday's talks between Araghchi and his British, French, German counterparts, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said: 'This is a perilous moment, and it is hugely important that we don't see regional escalation of this conflict.' The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said there 'can be no definitive solution through military means to the Iran nuclear problem. Military operations can delay it but they cannot eliminate it'. The talks are being held against the backdrop of Donald Trump's threat that the US could launch its own military assault on Iran within a fortnight – a step that would probably turn the already bloody war into a full-scale regional conflagration. European diplomats said they came to talks to deliver a tough message from the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and US special envoy Steve Witkoff: that the threat of US military action is real but that a 'diplomatic pathway remains open'. But without US-Iran direct talks it is hard to see how an agreement can be reached to curtail Iran's nuclear programme in a way that satisfies the US headline demand that Iran must never have a nuclear bomb. Late on Friday, Trump suggested that European efforts would not be enough to bring any resolution, telling reporters: 'Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.' The European ministers said they had expressed their longstanding concerns about Iran's expansion of its nuclear programme 'which has no credible civilian purpose and is in violation of almost all provisions in the nuclear deal agreed in 2015'. The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said: 'Today the regional escalation benefits no one. We must keep the discussions open.' Earlier on Friday, Macron said that the European offer to end Israel's war would include an Iranian move to zero uranium enrichment, restrictions on its ballistic missile programme and an end to Tehran's funding of terrorist groups. The proposals were surprisingly broad, spanning a range of complex issues beyond Iran's disputed nuclear programme, and appeared likely to complicate any solution unless an interim agreement can be agreed. One proposal recently aired is for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment for the duration of Donald Trump's US presidency. The concept of uranium enrichment being overseen by a consortium of Middle East countries – including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – remains on the table. Macron, already accused by Trump of publicity-seeking this week, set out a daunting agenda. 'It's absolutely essential to prioritise a return to substantial negotiations, including nuclear negotiations to move towards zero [uranium] enrichment, ballistic negotiations to limit Iran's activities and capabilities, and the financing of all terrorist groups and destabilisation of the region that Iran has been carrying out for several years,' he said. In the previous five rounds of talks, the US insisted that Iran end its entire domestic uranium enrichment programme, but said it would allow Iran to retain a civil nuclear programme, including by importing enriched uranium from a multinational consortium. Iran claims that as a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, it has an absolute legal right to enrich uranium, a position neither the European or American powers have ever endorsed. In the past, European negotiators have proved more adept than their US partners in finding compromises, including the temporary suspension of domestic enrichment, a principle Tehran reluctantly endorsed in 2003-4.
The Independent
41 minutes ago
- The Independent
Family of ex-FBI agent presumed dead in Iran hopes talks with US can lead to return of his remains
The family of a retired FBI agent presumed dead after vanishing in Iran 18 years ago is calling for any deal between the United States and Iran to include the return of his remains. Robert Levinson disappeared on March 9, 2007, when he was scheduled to meet a source on the Iranian island of Kish. For years, U.S. officials would say only that Levinson was working independently on a private investigation. But a 2013 Associated Press investigation revealed that Levinson had been sent on a mission by CIA analysts who had no authority to run such an operation. The U.S. government in 2020 said that it had concluded that Levinson had died while in the custody of Iran. The family at the time said that it did not know when or if Levinson's body would be returned for burial but vowed that those responsible for his death would ultimately face justice. "We want to make sure that our dad is not forgotten,' Daniel Levinson, one of Levinson's sons, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday. The younger Levinson said that as President Donald Trump signals an interest in diplomacy over Tehran 's nuclear program that could avert direct U.S. military involvement in Iran's war with Israel, now is the time for Washington to use its 'leverage to hold them responsible.' The family, he said, still has no answers but believes the Iranian government does. 'We fully believe that they know exactly where his remains would be and what exactly happened to him,' he said. 'We want justice for him. We want to get answers. We have no answers and the Iranian government has lied about it for 18 years.' On Thursday, an account on the social media platform X created to draw attention to Levinson's case posted a message that said: 'Our dad, Bob Levinson, was left behind too many times. This may be the last chance to get answers. Any deal with Iran must finally bring him home to rest on US soil.' Among the people who reposted the message was FBI Director Kash Patel.
