The U.S. campaign to pressure Iran aims to reduce Tehran's oil revenue to zero in an effort to force the Iranian leadership to change its behavior in the region, a senior U.S. State Department policy adviser said on Monday.
In May, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of an international agreement with Iran, reached in 2015 in an effort to curb Iran's nuclear efforts. Trump has been a vocal critic of the agreement arguing that it was weak and failed to address Iran's nonnuclear aggression.
Brian Hook, the State Department's director of policy planning, told a media briefing that the U.S. goal was to get as many countries as possible down to zero Iranian oil imports.
"Our goal is to increase pressure on the Iranian regime by reducing to zero its revenue on crude oil sales," Hook said.
"We are working to minimize disruptions to the global market but we are confident there is sufficient global spare oil capacity," he added.
Over the weekend, Trump said that he had received assurances from King Salman of Saudi Arabia that the kingdom will increase oil production, "maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels," in response to turmoil in Iran and Venezuela.
Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, accused the U.S. and Saudi Arabia of trying to push up oil prices and said both countries were acting against the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, an intergovernmental organization of 15 nations, including Iran.
"If this happens, [it] means Trump is asking Saudi Arabia to walk [away] from OPEC," Ardebili said. "The market will go up to $100 I am sure, as Saudi Arabia said they will plan an increase for July. … This was managed between the two to rob the pocket of rest of the world."
