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Oil Prices Little Changed Amid Uncertainty About US-Iran Talks in Qatar

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Oil Prices Little Changed Amid Uncertainty About US-Iran Talks in Qatar

Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday amid uncertainty regarding potential talks between the US and Iran in Qatar.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 0.1% to $70.70 a barrel on Tuesday, while Brent increased 0.1% to $73.24.

WTI and Brent were headed toward a 19% decline for the month of June as oil prices sold off after the US and Iran agreed to a memorandum of understanding to end their war. Crude prices tumbled about 17% in May.

President Donald Trump said Monday that the US will meet with Iran in Qatar on Tuesday, though Iran reportedly refuted that claim.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry said that US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who are in Doha, will meet Qatari mediators, not Iranian officials, CNN reported.

Washington and Tehran engaged in attacks over the weekend.

"The price action in recent weeks reflects a market that is treating this temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran as a permanent deal," Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Bank, said in a note on Monday. "This is clearly not the case, and as we have seen over the last four months, the situation can change very quickly.

"It took long enough to agree on a temporary ceasefire. Reaching a permanent deal which tackles the nuclear issue within 60 days would be very optimistic."

The economic effects of lower oil prices are influencing global monetary policy.

"The US-Iran deal has pushed global oil prices lower, reducing pressure on central banks to tighten," Oxford Economics Chief Global Economist Ryan Sweet said in a report emailed to.

Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive meeting, while removing the so-called easing bias from its statement.

"We're pushing out the timing of the next Fed rate cut to (the second half of 2027) from December," Sweet wrote. "This is mainly because of the deliberate shift in the Fed's reaction function and communication strategy."

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