Putin Hopes Iran Will Continue Exporting Oil

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he hoped Iranian oil exports would continue despite Washington’s efforts to stop them. 
Washington has demanded that buyers of Iranian crude halt purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran’s oil revenues, Reuters reported. 
The United States expects Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf Arab allies to boost output in order to offset the cut in Iranian supplies. 
But Putin, in Beijing to attend an investment conference, said he was unaware of any Saudi intention to increase production. 
Asked about Saudi Arabia’s position on offsetting the Iranian volumes taken off the world market, he told reporters: “I hope this does not happen in the end - but theoretically speaking, we have agreements under OPEC+.” 
He was referring to a global output cut plan signed by both OPEC and Russia which is in effect until the end of June. 
“We have not received any information from our Saudi partners or anyone else, any OPEC members, indicating they are ready to quit the agreements,” Putin said. 
He added that he had “no idea how the world energy market is going to react” to the toughening of sanctions against Iran.