Reuters reported on Monday that oil prices rose more than 3 percent after Iran and the US traded strikes and the Tel Aviv regime ordered its forces to move further into Lebanon.
US crude futures rose $2.88 or 3.3 percent to $90.24 a barrel as of 0701 GMT. Brent futures rose $2.78 or 3.05 percent to $93.9 a barrel.
Experts say a further escalation of violence, or a disruption to oil and gas supplies in the Persian Gulf, could still push oil prices higher than this.
Earlier reports of “encouraging progress” toward a final US-Iran understanding had driven Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI ) to settle down 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
However, the Israeli military’s Lebanon invasion, which has been underway for several days and intensified notably after Washington hosted the Israeli-Lebanon peace talks on Friday, erased all expectations that the US and Iran would soon reach a peace deal or extend the Pakistani-brokered ceasefire.
To make matters worse, over the weekend, the “aggressor US military” said on Sunday it conducted strikes on Iranian military drone and radar installations.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) also responded by carrying out a retaliatory strike against an air base used by the US military.
MNA
