Up until now though, neither Saudi Arabia nor any other OPEC member states, have made any official comment on the issue. Murtada says that, “The Gulf states are well aware of the dangers of taking such a step.”
As one of Iran’s representatives to OPEC, Mohammed Khatibi Tabatabai, told Iranian media on Jan. 7: “If our neighbours in the south use their production capacities to compensate for our [missing] oil, then they will have to bear the consequences of their acts.”
On state television on Feb. 4, Rostam Ghasemi, the Iranian Minister of Petroleum, said that Iran had asked OPEC members to “respect” Iranian interests. “We have also asked Iraq, as holders of the presidency of OPEC, to inform other members of this.”
Inside Iraq, some have said that Iraq could also take advantage of the Iranian stance, by increasing its own oil exports. “Iraq should take this opportunity to increase its own production,” Kurdish MP Ferhad al-Atroshi, also a member of the Iraqi Parliament’s committee on oil and gas, told NIQASH. “It shouldn’t try to convince the European countries to change their minds.”
However, as the high-level oil sector source pointed out, when the potential closure of the Hormuz Strait is taken into account, “there is no need [for Iraq] to take such a risk, just to earn a few extra dollars.”
“Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz which means it controls the oil in the region,” oil industry expert Faruk Mohammed said simply, adding that OPEC member states should avoid conflict with Iran for this reason.
Up until now the Iraqis have not approached any of the European states involved about this crisis. Apparently they are still waiting to see what positions all of the OPEC members states will take – whether or not they will decide to make up for the oil exports that Iran cuts.
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