Iran Wednesday rejected calls from crude oil consuming countries for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to act to lower oil prices that have reached record highs, describing current price as "suitable."
"Why should OPEC try to lower the prices, despite the demands from the United States and Britain?" Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari told an oil conference in Tehran
"They can go on demanding what they want," he added.
Tuesday, the benchmark U.S. light, sweet crude contract topped $114 a barrel for the first time.
"The oil price has reached $114 a barrel. When the price is suitable and supply is higher than demand this shows the reason (for the price) is somewhere else and we should deal with this other reason," he said.
Nozari said the current high crude price didn't reflect market fundamentals and has been caused by a plunge in the dollar.
"I believe that prices are not real. If we consider inflation and the depreciation of the dollar's value, prices are not real," he said.