Oil prices eased during Wednesday's Asian trading as the United States said it would “help” anti-government protesters in Iran while also reportedly planning to seize dozens more oil tankers linked to Venezuela.
Brent crude prices were down 0.2% to US$65.37 per barrel by 2:30 pm AEDT (3:30 am GMT). West Texas Intermediate prices dropped 0.3% to $61.00.
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media today that “HELP IS ON THE WAY” for Iranian anti-government protesters and cancelled meetings with Iranian officials.
He also said this week that countries trading with Iran would face a 25% tariff and has been weighing aerial strikes on Iran.
“If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote.
China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil. “I don't think China, for example, is going to shy away from Iranian barrels but if it did, and if everybody did, that would reduce global supplies by 3.3 million barrels a day that are currently supplied to the market by Iran,” said Mizuho Americas energy futures strategist Bob Yawger.
At least 2,403 protesters, 147 members of government forces, and nine non-protesting civilians have been killed during 17 days of protests against Iran’s government, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.
The U.S. has also filed for warrants to seize dozens of oil tankers that have carried Venezuelan crude and confiscate their cargo, Reuters reported.
It seized a fifth sanctioned tanker on Friday. Department of Defense spokesperson Sean Parnell said that day that the Pentagon “will hunt down and interdict ALL dark fleet vessels transporting Venezuelan oil at the time and place of our choosing.”
