Sunday January 12, 12:14 AM sg.biz.yahoo.com

VIENNA (Dow Jones)--State-run radio in Iran said Saturday that OPEC should "rush to help" Venezuela and that Sunday's meeting should offer solutions to the strike-hit country, the BBC's monitoring service reported Saturday.

Following phone talks between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iran's President Mohammad Khatami, a commentator on the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Tehran cited "America's war-mongering designs on Iraq" for volatile oil prices as well as the general strike in Venezuela.  

AdultsThe commentator said: "I believe that other OPEC members should rush to help that country, now that Chavez is facing serious oil production problems because of domestic difficulties and the indirect support of the American government for his opponents.

"Brazil has already announced that it will dispatch oil experts to that country and other OPEC members could perhaps also assess ways of helping the government of Venezuela to overcome its current problems. The OPEC session which is due to be held in Vienna tomorrow would be an appropriate venue for the raising of that matter and, undoubtedly, oil-producing countries could assess ways of bringing stability to oil prices, express their support for Chavez and display their unity to the world which could result in the further strengthening of the OPEC."