Oil prices fall sharply after Trump says China can buy oil from Iran
FILE PHOTO: An Israeli gas platform, controlled by a U.S.-Israeli energy group, is seen in the Mediterranean sea, some 15 miles (24 km) west of Israel’s port city of Ashdod, in this file picture taken February 25, 2013.
Amir Cohen | Reuters
Oil prices have fallen sharply now that Trump says China can keep buying oil from Iran, a sign that the U.S. is easing its maximum pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic in the wake of a ceasefire with Israel.
Global benchmark Brent fell $4.14, or 5.79%, to $67.34 per barrel by 11:55 a.m. ET. U.S. crude oil was last down $3.97, or 5.79%, to $65.54 a barrel. Prices closed 7% lower on Monday as the oil market bet that the conflict in the Middle East was winding down.
“China can now continue to purchase Oil from Iran,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. “Hopefully, they will be purchasing plenty from the U.S., also. It was my Great Honor to make this happen!”
— Spencer Kimball
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls U.S. strike on Iran ‘a mistake’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks after meeting with the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris, on Jan. 8, 2025.
Ludovic Marin | Via Reuters
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken is calling the U.S.’s weekend missile strike on Iran nuclear sites “unwise and unnecessary” in a new New York Times op-ed.
“Now that it’s done, I very much hope it succeeded,” Blinken, who served under former President Joe Biden, wrote.
“I can only hope that we inflicted maximum damage — damage that gives the president the leverage he needs to finally deliver the deal he has so far failed to achieve,” he wrote.
– Laya Neelakandan
Former U.S. Defense official: Iran-Israel conflict is ‘far from over’
A former Defense Department official says the next phase in the Iran-Israel conflict will be at the negotiating table.
Michèle Flournoy, WestExec Advisors co-founder and managing partner and former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Obama administration, said the focus now should be on putting pressure on both sides.
The key is to assess how much damage was actually done to Iran’s nuclear programs and determine whether Iran will come to the negotiating table “more seriously than it did before,” she told CNBC’s Squawk Box.
“I understand that we all want to sigh a big sigh of relief today with the ceasefire, but this is far from over as yet,” she added.
– Laya Neelakandan
Classified Iran briefings for Congress postponed until Thursday
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks at a press conference following the U.S. Senate Republicans’ weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 10, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
Two classified briefings for Congress on Iran that were scheduled for this afternoon have been postponed until Thursday, NBC News’ Frank Thorp reports.
The decision to postpone the briefings comes as a fragile ceasefire appears to be taking hold, and both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are in the Netherlands with Trump to attend the NATO summit.
Thorp notes this will be the first classified briefing since the U.S. strikes last weekend to which all members of Congress are invited, not just a small group of intelligence committee leaders and party leadership.
— Christina Wilkie
Trump claims both Iran and Israel wanted to ‘stop the war, equally’
President Donald Trump speaks to press before his departure at the White House to route The Hague, Netherlands on June 24, 2025, in Washington D.C. to attend NATO Summit in Netherlands.
Celal Gunes | Anadolu | Getty Images
Trump is claiming in a new Truth Social post that Israel and Iran both desired a ceasefire after more than a week of exchanging rocket fire.
“Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally! It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!”
While U.S. bombing did significant damage to three nuclear facilities, it did not eliminate Iran’s enriched uranium. U.S. intelligence officials have admitted in recent days they do not know where much of that material is being stored.
— Christina Wilkie
