NEW YORK, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices settled sharply higher on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said the country will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.
In a televised speech on Tuesday, Trump announced the exit, adding he will not sign the waiver of nuke-related sanctions against Iran.
Trump repeated his tough stance on the deal, saying it had failed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons or supporting terrorism in the region.
However, he did not specify the time frame and the scale of the sanctions to be restored.
Oil prices extended gains after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported U.S. Stockpiles decline of both crude oil and gasoline on Wednesday.
According to the administration, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories decreased 2.2 million barrels to stay at 433.8 million barrels last week.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery gained 2.08 U.S. dollars to settle at 71.14 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery increased 2.36 dollars to close at 77.21 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem
