Oil markets are now watching the nuclear deal talks and the hardline Raisi’s messages to glean what they might mean for global supply and prices.
Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi gave his first press conference since the country’s election, saying Monday his priorities would be to improve ties with regional neighbors and revive the 2015 nuclear deal — and at the same time squarely ruling out meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. “We support the negotiations that guarantee our national interests.… America should immediately return to the deal and fulfil its obligations under the deal,” Raisi, the hardline cleric who is himself under U.S. sanctions, said according to a Reuters translation. The 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and led by the Obama administration and several other world powers, lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program. Former President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, crippling its economy. Tehran has since ramped up its nuclear activity far beyond the deal’s limits in what it says is a protest against the sanctions — sanctions that Washington says it will not lift until Iran reverses its increased nuclear activity, such as increased uranium enrichment and stockpiling. And despite ongoing negotiations between JCPOA signatories in Vienna and talk of “progress,” the two adversaries still appear to be at a stalemate on major sticking points, such as Iran’s transparency with nuclear inspectors. Markets are now watching the talks and Raisi’s messages to glean what this might mean for the world’s supply of oil.
