Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, on a regional tour aimed at winning support to stabilise oil markets, discussed weak crude prices with Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, official Iranian newspapers reported on Wednesday.

 

Zangeneh delivered a message from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in his meeting with the emir on Tuesday and "discussed the developments in the oil market," Iran's state news agency IRNA reported late on Tuesday.

 

Zangeneh made a similar plea with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, during his stopover in Doha on Monday.

 

Iran has said the steep fall in oil prices this year is the result of deliberate moves by some exporters who have kept production high to undermine Tehran's sanctions-hit economy.

 

Oil-dependent Iran is struggling to offset the wide budget imbalance created by the drop in oil prices, and Rouhani has called for enhanced cooperation among the region's major producers to stabilise the global oil market.