Iran will continue to increase its oil production until it recovers the market share it lost when international sanctions were imposed due to concerns about Tehran's nuclear program.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh's comments are a blow to a deal struck in February between Russia and Saudi Arabia to curb falling global oil prices.
Zanganeh was speaking on April 3 ahead of an April 17 meeting of oil producers in Qatar to discuss a possible output freeze.
Despite his comments, Zanganeh was quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying that "the agreement between the world's top OPEC and non-OPEC exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze output at January levels is a positive step.”
On the possibility of his attending the Doha meeting in Qatar, he said he would certainly attend the meeting "if he had time," Mehr reported.
Based on reporting by Mehr and AFP
