Oil prices were holding onto gains early on Tuesday, reversing an earlier dip in Asian trade, as geopolitical risks in Russia and Iran outweighed oversupply concerns in thin semi-holiday trading.
Both benchmarks were up by about 0.4%, with WTI Crude at above $58 per barrel and Brent Crude topping $62 a barrel, following renewed geopolitical risk premium, mostly due to comments from U.S. President Donald Trump in the past 24 hours.
Following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida, President Trump said the United States had hit a dock on a shore in Venezuela, where alleged drug boats “load up.”
“They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area…And that is no longer around,” President Trump said.
At the same press pool with the Israeli PM, President Trump suggested that the United States could launch new strikes on Iran if the Islamic Republic resumes work on its nuclear weapons program.
“I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites,” President Trump said.
“We know exactly where they’re going, what they’re doing, and I hope they’re not doing it because we don’t want to waste fuel on a B-2,” the U.S. President added, referring to the bomber jet the U.S. used in the previous strikes in June 2025.
“It’s a 37-hour trip both ways. I don’t want to waste a lot of fuel.”
Meanwhile, oil prices were also supported by reports that Vladimir Putin told President Trump that Russia would review its position in the U.S.-brokered peace talks to end the war in Ukraine after what Moscow claimed was a drone attack by Ukraine on one of the residences of the Russian president.
The Kremlin will continue dialogue with the U.S., but the attack that Russia claims was aimed at the presidential residence would not go “unanswered,” TASS news agency quoted Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov as saying on Tuesday.
Russia also weighed in on the U.S.-Iran tensions, urging restraint after President Trump’s hint that the U.S. could strike Iran again if Tehran resumed work on its nuclear weapons program.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
