Iran to Trump: Your tweets are driving up oil prices

Iran’s Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) governor on Thursday took a swipe at President Trump, asserting that the president and his tweets are responsible for driving up oil prices.

Hossein Kzempour Ardebili said in the wake of Trump’s latest criticism of OPEC that the president’s tweets “have driven the prices up by at least $10 per barrel.”

“You are hammering on good guys in OPEC. You are actually discrediting them and undermining their sovereignty, we expect you to be more polite,” Kazempour said, according to Bloomberg.

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Kazempour’s defense of OPEC came one day after Trump took to Twitter to attack the organization for its inaction on rising oil prices.

“The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up & they are doing little to help,” Trump tweeted on the Fourth of July.

“If anything, they are driving prices higher as the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s. This must be a two way street. REDUCE PRICING NOW!” he added.

The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up & they are doing little to help. If anything, they are driving prices higher as the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s. This must be a two way street. REDUCE PRICING NOW!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2018

Trump also tweeted on the topic two weeks ago, saying he hoped OPEC would increase production in an effort to keep prices down.

In June, OPEC and Russia reached a deal to make modest increases in crude oil production, though it is unclear how much the increase will amount to.