Iraq says would not be fair to be asked by OPEC to cut oil output

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - OPEC should allow Iraq to continue raising output with no restrictions, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari told reporters in Budapest on Tuesday, commenting on a plan by the organization to limit supply in order to support prices.

"We think we should increase output. Iraq is in a special situation ...we are at war," he said, referring to the ongoing military campaign to defeat Islamic State.

"It would not be fair for us to cut oil output."

OPEC meets at the end of the month at its headquarters in Vienna. Iraq is the second-largest producer of the 14-member group, behind Saudi Arabia.

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs in Budapest; writing by Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; editing by Jason Neely)

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