Oil price: Trump should change his policy on Iran rather than blaming Opec

Pumping more crude into the market may seem as if it ought to ease fears of a supply shortage when Trump's Iran sanctions begin to bite - but any relief will be short-lived

President Donald Trump has once again taken to Twitter to slam Opec for driving up oil prices. The group is a useful scapegoat on which to pin the blame for rising gasoline prices at home, but getting it to pump more crude won’t bring them down for long. The way to really lower prices is for him to change his policy on Iran.

Unfortunately, that’s not likely to happen, so oil prices could well keep rising. Oil prices have climbed by more than 50 per cent in a year, and very nearly touched $80 a barrel last week as traders