NEW DELHI, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Oil prices could reach $100 per barrel as geopolitical tension rises amid anticipated winter demand, Iran's deputy oil minister said Friday.
Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian told reporters in India that "there is still a possibility of crude reaching $100 a barrel due to geopolitical problems worldwide and peaking of winter demand." The minister is in New Delhi for a two-day meeting on the possibility of building a gas pipeline worth $7 billion.
He said, however, that Iran was unlikely to withdraw its petroleum supplies from the global market even if there was U.S. military action against the country. The United States has threatened sanctions against Iran unless it suspend its nuclear activities by Aug. 31.
On Thursday, meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Relations Vice Minister Manuchehr Mohammadi said in an interview on Venezuelan state television that oil prices could reach $200 per barrel if the United States imposed sanctions against Iran.
