WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices moved higher on Tuesday amid possibility of tight supplies due to an escalation in tensions in the Middle East after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel, aiming to avenge the killing of Hamas head Hassan Nasrallah and other senior leaders of the group.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November closed up $1.66 or about or nearly 2.5% at $69.83 a barrel.
Brent crude futures settled at $73.56 a barrel, gaining $1.86 or about 2.59%.
According to reports, Iran fired about 180 missiles toward Israel. The Israel Defense Forces said most of the missiles were intercepted.
'This attack will have consequences,' said Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari. A senior White House official told NBC News earlier that the U.S. would help defend Israel and warned Iran that an attack would 'carry severe consequences.'
Oil prices had tumbled earlier in the day as the dollar climbed higher after hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell said in remarks prepared for delivery at a National Association for Business Economics conference in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday that the risks are two-sided and the Fed will continue to make interest-rate decisions meeting by meeting.
Markets now await weekly oil reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The API's report is due later today, while EIA will release its inventory data Wednesday morning.
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