December 12, The Iran Project - The success made by Iran to be exempted from oil production cuts in the 175th meeting of members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) considered as a victory for the country's petroleum diplomacy.

Following the meeting of OPEC members and non-OPEC producers on Friday December 7, it was decided that 14 OPEC members and 10 non-OPEC producers including Russia, reduce their daily production by 1.2 mbd in a bid to raise crude prices. However, Friday's deal exempted Iran, along with Venezuela and Libya.

On Sunday (Dec. 9), Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called a decision by OPEC and other oil producers on Friday to cut output a rebuff for a US “policy of meddling”, saying  “Despite US attempts to interfere in OPEC affairs and prevent a balancing of oil supply, fortunately with the resistance of member states and the efforts of Iran and Mr. Zanganeh (Iranian Oil Minister), this plan was neutralised and there was a defeat for America’s policy of meddling."

Also, Salam Amini, a member of the Iranian parliament’s energy committee, stated that the outcome of the 5th Joint OPEC-non-OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and Iran’s exemption of any production cut programs by OPEC and non-OPEC producers were a victory of Iran.

“I was present in the meeting and witnessed how the Iranian Minister of Petroleum and his accompanying delegation defended the rights of the Iranian nation,” the MP, who accompanied the Iranian delegation to JMMC in Vienna, said.

Meanwhile, In an interview with Press TV, Dean Henderson, a political commentator, said that “there is probably a victory for Iran really to get the exemption because of the medieval sanctions that have been placed on it by the United States; so, Iran comes out of this in pretty good shape.”

The fact that Iran got the exemption shows the Iranians could come to the top at the OPEC, while Saudi Arabia’s influence on the organization did not allow other member states to have their voice heard, Henderson noted.