Investing.com - Oil prices rallied to near six-month highs on Tuesday, after the United States said it was ending all sanctions waivers for countries buying Iranian crude.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a briefing on Monday, demanded all buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran's oil revenues.
"We are going to zero. We're going to zero across the board," Pompeo said, adding that the U.S. had no plans for a grace period beyond May 1 for countries to comply. He said the aim is to deprive Iran of its lifeline of $50 billion in annual oil revenues.
Brent crude futures were at $74.47 per barrel by 6:05AM ET (10:05 GMT), after brushing $74.70, the highest since Nov. 1, 2018, as the potential disruption to Iranian supplies are expected to add to an already tight oil market.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed to $66.03 per barrel, the most since Oct. 31, 2018.
In a tweet on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said Saudi Arabia and others in OPEC "will more than make up the Oil Flow difference in our now Full Sanctions on Iranian Oil."
Washington reimposed sanctions on exports of Iranian oil in November after Trump unilaterally pulled out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers last May. After renewing sanctions, it granted waivers to eight major buyers for a six-month period, which ends in May.
Prior to the reimposition of sanctions, Iran was the fourth-largest producer in OPEC at almost 3 million barrels per day (bpd), but April exports have shrunk to well below 1 million bpd, according to ship tracking and analyst data in Refinitiv.
Tehran remained defiant over Washington's decision, saying it was prepared for the end of waivers, while the Revolutionary Guards repeated their threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipment channel in the Gulf, Iranian media reported.
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-- Reuters contributed to this report