Oil Falls as Iran Affirms Commitment to Nuclear Treaty

Summary

Iran reaffirms commitment to nuclear non-proliferation treaty
OPEC+ to announce August output hike on Sunday
US tariff risks resurface as July 9 deadline looms

(Reuters) – Oil futures fell slightly on Friday after Iran reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, while major producers from the OPEC+ group are set to agree to raise their output this weekend.

Brent crude futures were down 49 cents, or 0.71%, to $68.31 a barrel by 0831 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 41 cents, or 0.61%, to $66.59.

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Trade was thinned by the U.S. Independence Day holiday.

U.S. news website Axios reported on Thursday that the United States was planning to meet with Iran next week to restart nuclear talks, while Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The U.S. imposed fresh sanctions targeting Iran’s oil trade on Thursday.

Saudi Arabian Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with President Trump and other officials at the White House to discuss de-escalation efforts with Iran, media reports said.

Trump also said on Thursday that he would meet with representatives of Iran “if necessary”.

“Thursday’s news that the U.S. is preparing to resume nuclear talks with Iran, and Araqchi’s clarification that cooperation with the U.N. atomic agency has not been halted considerably eases the threat of a fresh outbreak of hostilities,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.

Araqchi made the comments a day after Tehran enacted a law suspending cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

OPEC+, the world’s largest group of oil producers, is set to announce an increase of 411,000 bpd in production for August as it looks to regain market share, four delegates from the group told Reuters.

Meanwhile, uncertainty over U.S. tariff policies resurfaced as the end of a 90-day pause on higher levy rates approaches.

Washington will start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on goods sent to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual trade deals.

President Trump told reporters before departing for Iowa on Thursday that the letters would be sent to 10 countries at a time, laying out tariff rates of 20% to 30%.

Trump’s 90-day pause on higher U.S. tariffs ends on July 9, and several large trading partners have yet to clinch trade deals, including the European Union and Japan.

Separately, Barclays said it raised its Brent oil price forecast by $6 to $72 per barrel for 2025 and by $10 to $70 a barrel for 2026 on an improved outlook for demand.

Reporting by Robert Harvey in London, Mohi Narayan in New Delhi and Florence Tan in Singapore; Additional reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Tom Hogue and Emelia Sithole-Matarise