Oil rises as geopolitical tensions rise

Oil rose after separate attacks by Iranian-backed militants that killed U.S. soldiers in Jordan and hit a fuel tanker in the Red Sea, in attacks that have raised tensions in the Middle East. The White House said Iranian-backed militants killed three soldiers and wounded 34 others in a drone strike, the first American deaths from an enemy attack since Israel and Hamas went to war. That followed a Houthi missile attack on a Russian fuel ship operated by the Trafigura Group on Friday, the most significant attack on an energy vessel to date. Brent crude rose as much as 1.5 percent in Asian trading before paring most of those gains. That came after the global benchmark rose more than 6 percent last week, its biggest gain since October. U.S. crude climbed to $79 a barrel. The deaths of U.S. soldiers will put President Joe Biden under increasing pressure to confront Iran directly, risking a wider conflict in a region that is the source of about a third of the world's oil and vital to global trade.