The U.S. will find it difficult to cut Iran’s oil exports completely as the oil market is already tight and rival producers cannot make up the shortfall, a top Iranian official said on Friday. Washington is seeking to cut Iranian oil exports to zero by November as it reimposes sanctions, and is encouraging other producers such as Saudi Arabia, other OPEC members and Russia to pump more to meet the shortfall. Even so, the expected loss of Iranian oil, declining supply from another OPEC member Venezuela and other outages are boosting crude prices, which this week hit $80 a barrel, the highest since May. Iran’s OPEC governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, said in comments to Reuters that a “supply shortage” meant that the United States […]