Commodities: WTI jumps as Netanyahu accuses Tehran of having lied about nuclear aims

The 12 May deadline set by the White House for it to decide whether the US will remain in the Iranian nuclear accord reached by the previous administration came into sharp relief on Monday, as Israel accused Tehran of having lied about its nuclear ambitions.

After the close in markets in London, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disclosed Tel Aviv had gained possession of a voluminous amount of material related to Iran's nuclear weapons programme between 1999 and 2003.

That, he said, proved Iranian leaders were lying when they signed the current arms control deal with the US and other countries, having claimed in multiple instances that their country had no interest whatsoever in nuclear weapons.

Following his televised conference, traders pushed front month Brent crude oil futures higher by 0.876% to $75.30 per barrel on the ICE.

Those gains came alongside a 1.204% move higher for West Texas Intermediate to $68.93 a barrel.

In the metals space, meanwhile, traders were also focused on the Oval Office, albeit for different reasons, with traders anxious to know if US President Donald Trump would extend the current exemptions for multiple allies, including the European Union, from America's recently-implemented tariffs on steel and aluminium.

Against that backdrop, by the London close three-month LME aluminium futures were trading at $2,255 per metric tonne, versus $2,228 per metric tonne at the Friday close.

Among soft commodities, the focus was on the start of the Wheat Quality Council's crop tour the next day to assess the state of the red winter wheat crop in Kansas, ahead of the release of a forecast for that state's output scheduled for 3 May.

Ahead of that, July 2018 CBoT wheat was gaining 2.41% to $5.1050 a bushel.

From a bird's eye view, as of 1858 BST the Bloomberg commodity index was ahead by 0.25% to 89.60, while the US dollar spot index was adding 0.28% to 91.798.