Crude oil prices climbed in Asia trade Thursday as traders were cheered by Iran’s position on a tentative output freeze agreement between four major producers, even though the country has declined to cut its own production. Iran oil minister Bijan Zanganeh called the plan a positive step in comments to state media Wednesday, but made it clear that his nation intended to take advantage of its recent return to the export market. Iran regained the right to export oil in January, after U.S. sanctions were lifted. If it doesn’t commit to capping production at last month’s levels, in accordance with a plan put forward by Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Venezuela this week, the four countries could backtrack. The plan was conditional on other major oil producers making similar commitments. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March were at $31.28 a barrel […]