Oil prices rise more than 4% on escalating U.S.-Iran tensions

U.S. crude oil futures rose more than 4% Wednesday as tensions escalated between the U.S. and Iran, with President Donald Trump expressing doubt that the two countries will reach a nuclear deal.

Brent crude futures rose $2.90, or 4.3%, to close at $69.77 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $3.17, or 4.9%, to settle at $68.15.

The U.S. is preparing a partial evacuation of its embassy in Iraq due to heightened security risks in the region, sources told Reuters. The U.S. military has authorized the “voluntary departure” of troops’ dependents from the Middle East due to rising tensions with Iran, sources told the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a Royal Navy unit that exchanges information between commercial shippers and military forces, warned of increased tensions in the region that could lead to an “escalation of military activity.”

Trump said he is losing confidence that the U.S. and Iran can strike a deal over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program that would avoid a war in the region.

“They seem to be delaying, and I think that’s a shame, but I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago,” Trump told The New York Post in a story that published early Wednesday. “Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made.”

Trump told the Post that Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon, “but it would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying.”

“But I don’t think I see the same level of enthusiasm for them to make a deal,” the president said. “I think they would make a mistake, but we’ll see. I guess time will tell.”

Iran’s defense minister, meanwhile, warned that U.S. bases in the region are within reach of the Islamic Republic’s military, according to the state Islamic Republic News Agency. Tehran would not hesitate to target all U.S. bases in the region, Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh said.