Oil trims losses amid mixed reports on White House's Iran intentions

Crude oil futures slumped, but then reversed course, amid conflicting reports about whether the US would pull out from the multilateral deal on Iran's nuclear programme.

On Tuesday morning, and citing a US official and a person familiar with the plan, CNN's Kevin Liptak reported that the US President was expected to announce he would allow sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports - but no additional sanctions - to move forward.

However, the details might take months to work out, Liptak said, possibly buying time for the defenders of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to negotiate with Tehran for the changes the US was seeking to be included.

Specifically, Washington reportedly wanted the JCPA to address Iran's ballistic missile programme and Tehran's support for terror groups.

Furthermore, the sources cited by CNN held out the possibility that Trump might yet change course.

The CNN report sent Brent crude oil futures lower by over 3% in afternoon trading on Tuesday.

But by 1709 BST, front month Brent crude oil futures had trimmed their losses to trade down by only 1.80% to $74.82 on the ICE after The New York Times reported that Trump had already told French President Emanuel Macron of his plans to announce America's withdrawal.

According to the Times, the White House was preparing to reimpose all sanctions waived as part of the Obama administration's 2015 Iran deal on top of additional penalties.

In particular, the White House was said to have been adamant about the need for the curbs on Iran's manufacture of nuclear fuel to be kept in place after 2030, when they were currently on track to expire.

To take note of, according to Liptak it was also unclear whether China and Russia would agree to any changes.