By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices dropped on Friday as President Donald Trump on Friday said he has ordered sanctions on Iran’s central bank at the highest level.
The president made the remarks to reporters in the Oval Office, where he and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison were scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting before his United Nations address next week.
The president’s remarks at the White House came two days after he announced via Twitter that he had instructed that US substantially increase sanctions on the country of Iran.
This arose as a result of attacks that brought down more than half of Saudi Arabia’s crude production and limited the country’s spare capacity which the US says had Iranian involvement.
Brent Crude, which was trading above $64 on Thursday, went down to $63.20 after losing 0.21 percent while, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also dropped, but in this case by 17 cents or 0.34 percent to trade at $58.09.
The OPEC Basket also declined, registering 18 cents or 0.28 percent loss to trade at $64.39.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia invited reporters to see the damaged oil facilities to show customers Aramco was back in business and to help rally international support against Iran ahead of a meeting next week of world leaders at the United Nations.
The United Nations General Assembly in New York, which will include President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, could provide a critical forum in determining the next developments in the crisis.
Saudi Arabia has also asked the U.N. to send experts to investigate the attacks, as it pushes to hold Iran responsible for what it called an “assault on the international community.”
A spokesperson of the United Nations confirmed that an investigation was ongoing.
Dipo Olowookere