Ronen Zvulun/Reuters Oil prices erased losses early Monday morning, trading up more than a dollar from its recent lows, as tensions between Israel and…
Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Oil prices erased losses early Monday morning, trading up more than a dollar from its recent lows, as tensions between Israel and Iran mounted.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.54% at $68.34 a barrel at 12:15 p.m. ET. Brent, the international benchmark, rose 0.43% to $74.96. Both had been down more than a dollar after a report out Friday showed US drillers added five oil rigs last week, raising the tally to 825, the highest level since March 2015.
But prices inched upward as Israel and Iran clashed on multiple fronts.
Government outposts were attacked in missile strikes in northern Syria overnight, according to the Associated Press, killing dozens of pro-government fighters in the area — most of them Iranians. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday night it suspects that Israeli forces carried out the attacks.
Further stoking tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to announce a « significant development » on the Iran nuclear deal — which eases sanctions on Tehran so long as it curbs its nuclear program — on Monday afternoon, according to a brief statement from his office. The statement didn’t offer further details.
Barak Ravid, a correspondent at Tel Aviv’s Channel 10 news station, reported early Monday that a senior Israeli official told him: « Whoever still believes Iran signed the nuclear deal with honest intentions is going to have a very interesting time this evening. »
Netanyahu over the weekend met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and spoke with President Donald Trump over the phone, according to the White House. The international community has already been on edge that Trump will scrap the deal, which expires May 12.
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