WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After surging early in the day, crude oil prices have tumbled over the course of the trading session on Thursday. With the downturn, crude oil is extending the losses from two previous sessions, as investors watch the developments in U.S.-Iran peace talks.
WTI Crude Oil for July month delivery was last seen trading down by $1.41 (or 1.43%) at $96.85 per barrel after spiking by as much as 4.5 percent to a high of $102.66 per barrel.
The U.S.-Israel versus Iran conflict entered day number 83 today. Oil prices have generally continued to move upwards since February 28 when the gulf war began.
Despite announcing a ceasefire in April, U.S. President Donald Trump has been intensifying pressure on Iran to agree to the U.S. terms to strike a deal. Trump specifically has been demanding that Iran should halt its nuclear weapons program.
After pausing a planned attack on Iran scheduled for Tuesday, Trump later observed that the U.S. has given only a limited period of time to Iran to come up with a deal.
Though Trump stated that the war is in the final stages and he expected it to end quickly, later he stated that either there will be a deal or the U.S. will do some 'nasty' things to Iran.
At Joint Base Andrews, Trump stated that the talks are right on the borderline and asserted that a deal will be made very quickly but insisted that Iran's response must be 100% right.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance stated that the negotiations were progressing well.
On the diplomatic front, Pakistan's Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi rushed to Iran yesterday, and is holding meetings with Iranian counterparts. Pakistan is acting as an intermediary between the U.S. and Iran and is facilitating the exchange of communications.
According to Iran's media, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is reviewing a response sent by the U.S. to its earlier 14-point proposal sent days before through Pakistan to end the war. Iran has reportedly stated that the latest plan 'narrowed the gap' between the warring sides.
Today, Trump claimed that the U.S. will get the enriched uranium from Iran and probably destroy it but will not let Iran have it.
In a crucial development, citing two senior Iranian sources, Reuters reported that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei ordered that the Iran's near-weapons-grade enriched uranium must not be moved outside of Iran.
However, an X post from Al Jazeera's reporter Ali Hashem citing a 'senior Iranian official' said that the reports of an Iranian decree against the transfer of high-grade uranium out of Iran are false. The 'senior Iranian official' told Ali Hashem that Khamenei never stated that, no new order was issued, and called the report a 'propaganda'.
With threats of an extended standoff in the U.S.-Iran negotiations over Iran's nuclear stockpile eliminated, optimism on peace talks returned to markets.
Data released by the U.S. Labor Department today revealed that the unemployment benefit claims fell by 3,000 to 209,000 in the second week of May, indicating that the labor market is stable despite an uncertain global economy.
The U.S. dollar index was last seen trading at 99.14, up by 0.01 points (or 0.01%) today.
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