Oil prices fell on Thursday, May 15th, after President Donald Trump said the United States was close to making a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump made the remarks in Qatar before flying to the United Arab Emirates for the third and final leg of a Gulf tour that began in Saudi Arabia.
Trump’s comments came after Iran held its fourth round of talks with the U.S. administration. Washington has said it wishes to avoid a threatened military strike by Israel on Tehran’s contested nuclear program.
“Traders focused on the prospect of a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal which could see economic sanctions lifted on the latter and potentially lead to greater supplies of oil,” noted Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
Both main crude contracts fell by more than 2% in value on hopes that U.S. sanctions on Iran might be lifted as part of the deal.
That could, in turn, increase the Islamic republic’s oil exports.
