<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Oil prices spiked on Monday after Tehran confirmed the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other officials in a helicopter crash in the country's northwestern province.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">International benchmark Brent crude traded at $84.24 per barrel at 10.44 a.m. local time (0744 GMT), a rise of 0.31% from the closing price of $83.98 per barrel in the previous trading session.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $79.81 per barrel at the same time, a 0.29% increase from the previous session that closed at $79.58 per barrel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The helicopter carrying the Iranian president, the country's foreign minister, and their entourage crashed in the East Azerbaijan region of northwest Iran on Sunday afternoon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After a night-long search operation hampered by bad weather, Iranian Deputy President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri said in a statement on X that all onboard, including the president, foreign minister, accompanying delegation, and helicopter crew, had died.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Supply fears in favor of higher oil prices were stoked by worries about the political fallout in the oil-producing country and how it might affect decisions to be made at the June 1 meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the latest OPEC report, over 3 million barrels of oil are produced daily in Iran.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, hope of the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) starting interest rate cuts this year continues to influence oil prices.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With a current 65% probability rating for a Fed interest rate decrease in September, financial markets are beginning to reflect this forecast in pricing, while bolstering trade and prices as a weak US dollar rate makes oil trade cheaper for other currency holders.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Furthermore, robust economic data from China, signaling high oil demand, is supporting price increases. The world's second-largest oil consumer and largest importer announced plans to start issuing subsidized bonds worth 1 trillion yuan last week. - Anadolu Agency&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>