A senior Iranian policy-maker has vowed support for market policies of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who currently leads Iran’s Constitutional Council as well as the Assembly of Experts, said on Thursday that Iran will continue to support “the noble objectives of to help maintain stability in the global oil market”.

Ayatollah Jannati’s remarks, as covered on OPEC secretariat’s official Twitter page, came during a meeting with OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo.

Barkindo has travelled to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raeisi.

However, a report on the website of Iran’s Constitutional Council said Barkindo had demanded a meeting with Ayatollah Jannati, without elaborating on why the audience had been requested.

Jannati is a close aide to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and normally stays above the fray in Iran’s political system.