OPEC is breaking down into two camps after more than a year of unity. On one side is Saudi Arabia, which wants oil prices at $70 a barrel or higher, and on the other is Iran, which wants them around $60.

The split is driven by differing views over whether $70 a barrel sends U.S. shale companies into a production frenzy that could cause prices to crash. At stake is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ production limits, which are among factors helping the oil market’s monthslong recovery.

Iran wants OPEC to work to keep oil prices around $60 a barrel to contain shale producers, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told The Wall Street Journal in a rare interview. That is a little below Friday’s prices of $65.49 a barrel for Brent crude, the international benchmark, and $62.04 in the U.S.

“If the price jumps [to] around $70…it will motivate more production in shale oil in the United States,” Mr. Zanganeh said. Shale producers are more nimble than big OPEC producers, using techniques that allow them to increase or decrease production depending on the oil price.

Saudi Arabia has played down shale’s ability to upset the market and has touted OPEC’s alliance with the world’s largest crude producer, Russia, as a bulwark against U.S. output.