Chavez warns US attack on Iran or Venezuela would raise oil prices

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
In his opening address of a rare OPEC summit, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the United States on Saturday that oil prices would further surge if the US contemplates an attack against his country or Iran. Minutes after Chavez declared that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should "assert itself as an active political agent," Saudi King Abdullah appeared to rebuke the Venezuelan, insisting that "OPEC has always acted moderately and wisely." "Oil is an energy for development, it should not become a tool for conflict and emotions," said the king of conservative Saudi Arabia in an apparent response to the leftist leader.