Publish Date: 14 August 2019 - 13:25

TEHRAN, Aug. 14 (MNA) – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that the US claim that it does not need Middle East oil and natural gas is ridiculous, adding that the Americans are right; Middle East oil needs the US.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

In response to the US president claiming that the country does not need Middle East oil and natural gas, ridiculing Trump's claim Zanganeh said that the Americans are right; Middle East oil needs the US.

Explaining what he meant Iranian Minister added, "Some Middle Eastern oil-producing countries need the US more than the US needs them."

Zanganeh mentioned that the US really doesn't need Middle East oil because of Shale oil production but it does import oil.

The US President Trump on Tuesday visited Shell’s soon-to-be completed Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, which will turn the area’s vast natural gas deposits into plastics. The facility is being built in an area hungry for investment and employment, though critics claim it will become the largest air polluter in western Pennsylvania.

Trump said his administration was “restoring the glory of American manufacturing” and making the nation energy independent.

“We don’t need it from the Middle East anymore,” Trump said of oil and natural gas, adding that the plant’s union employees were “the backbone of this country,” sparking chants of USA from the plant’s workers.

ZZ/4692361