Iran says backs OPEC push for "acceptable" oil price

Oil prices have tumbled from a mid-July peak near $80 a barrel to just under $63 on a range of factors, including burgeoning U.S. inventories and slower-than-expected economic growth.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran supports any effort by OPEC members to strengthen the oil market and return oil prices to an acceptable and logical level," he told Iran's official news agency IRNA. He did not say what an that acceptable level was.

Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said last month that he wanted to see OPEC's basket of crude hold above $60 a barrel, which would equate to about $65 a barrel for U.S. crude.

"Some OPEC members, by decreasing production, are trying to prevent the slide of oil prices," Kazempour Ardebili noted.

Nigeria and Venezuela, both OPEC members, have pledged to cut production. Reuters