15 OPEC and non-OPEC producers support the Doha initiative to limit output even if sanctions-free Iran doesn’t follow suit, according to The Wall Street Journal. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and their allies would limit their oil output even if Iran which had to lower its production and exports under sanctions doesn’t follow suit, the daily quoted OPEC officials saying. The change in tone that paves the way for curbs on crude production emerged after Qatar said Wednesday that it would host a meeting on April 17 in Doha for oil producers both inside and outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Middle East had said any agreement would be off if Iran refused to participate, but oil prices as low as $27 a barrel this year have hurt the Saudi economy and put domestic political pressure on the kingdom to move forward anyway, OPEC officials said. An agreement would have limited impact if it didn’t include Iran, the world’s seventh-largest oil producer trying to ramp up its output now that international sanctions have ended. Iran’s petroleum minister, Bijan Zanganeh, has said his country won’t consider joining until its production reaches four million barrels a day, up from about 3.2 million barrels a day currently, WSJ reported. Mr. Zanganeh had initially expressed support for the freeze without committing to it. But after Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi appeared to insist at a Houston conference last month that Iran join the cap, Mr. Zanganeh publicly attacked the deal as “a joke” and said other producers should “leave us alone.” While Saudi Arabia and its allies want Tehran to put the brakes on its already small output, it no longer wants its opposition to stand in the way of a deal seen as helping the kingdom during dark economic times. Saudi Arabia ran a record budget deficit last year and drew down its foreign reserves to around $602 billion at the end of January. Riyadh has reduced popular energy subsidies and is now seeking $8 billion in loans from international banks, the report said.