Obama on the pre-campaign trail in Iowa
Obama on the pre-campaign trail in IowaReuters

President Barack Obama wants world powers to keep talking with Iran to keep the price of oil from rising and hurting his election chances, says a former European Union advisor.

"The Americans' motive for negotiation is keeping the situation calm to prevent Israel's unsolicited moves that might upset the electoral process in the United States," Alastair Crooke, former advisor to EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, the Iranian government-controlled Fars News Agency.

Crooke said the U.S. policy of continued talks with Iran is also aimed at "stopping increasing tensions in the Middle-East resulting in escalation in oil prices.”

The de facto Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, is running neck-and-neck with President Obama in pre-election polls.

Fars, regarded as a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime, also quoted a senior Member of Parliament as stating that President Obama needs an agreement with Iran to get reelected.  

Iran is locked in talks between six world powers, including the United States, over its unsupervised nuclear program and Tehran’s demand to enrich high-grade uranium.

"No international consensus will be made for any measure in the next six months and until the presidential election in the US, and at present it is the US which is in need of an agreement with Iran and attempts to lead the western sides to the same path," said  Mahdi Sanayee.

A member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, he told Fars that the “Zionist lobby” and the Republican party are trying to destroy the possibility of any agreement.