U.S. President Donald Trump claimed credit for falling oil prices, glossing over market forces that knocked crude futures from four-year highs last month.

He also appeared to hint that his administration may not tighten sanctions on Iran's oil exports if crude prices start rallying again, saying the measures will "maybe" get tougher.

"I gave some countries a break on the oil," Trump said during a press conference the day after Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. "I did it a little bit because they really asked for some help, but I really did it because I don't want to drive oil prices up to $100 a barrel or $150 a barrel, because I'm driving them down," CNBC cited the U.S. leader as saying.

"If you look at oil prices they've come down very substantially over the last couple of months. That's because of me. Because you have a monopoly called OPEC, and I don't like that monopoly," Trump stressed.

Vestnik Kavkaza

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