Trump exits Iran nuclear deal: Oil price may soar, hit India, says Assocham

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called President Donald Trump's speech announcing US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran "silly and superficial".

"Last night you heard that the US President made silly and superficial remarks. There were may be more than 10 lies in his comments. He threatened both the establishment and the nation, saying he will do this and that," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with a number of teachers and university professors in Tehran.

"Trump, I tell you on behalf of the Iranian nation: You are making a damn mistake and you cannot do anything," Khamenei was quoted as saying by Press TV.

On Tuesday, Trump announced Washington's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It was signed between Iran and China, France, Russia, Britain, the US and Germany besides the EU.

Iran, in the 2015 pact, had agreed to halt its nuclear programme in return for an easing of economic sanctions on Tehran.

Wall Street erases losses after Donald Trump quits Iran nuclear deal

Wall Street cut losses to end little changed on Tuesday while energy stocks rallied after US President Donald Trump said the United States would quit the Iran nuclear deal, confirming what many investors had expected.

In a televised speech, Trump said the United States would withdraw from a 2015 international agreement designed to deny Tehran the ability to build nuclear weapons, and also reinstate sanctions on Iran.

The S&P energy sector erased earlier losses to end the day up 0.78 per cent as oil prices reduced earlier declines on bets that the sanctions would disrupt global crude supplies.

"You have seem some modest flight to quality, though it hasn't been major," said Brian Daingerfield, macro strategist at NatWest Markets in Stamford, Connecticut. "There's still quite a bit of uncertainty about the future of the deal even now that the U.S. has made its intentions clear."

CIA report reveals bin Laden-Iran ties amid Trump threat to scrap nuke deal

The CIA's release of documents seized during the 2011 raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has again raised questions about Iran's support of the extremist network leading up to the Sept 11 terror attacks.

US intelligence officials and prosecutors have long said Iran formed loose ties to the terror organization from 1991 on, something noted in a 19-page report in Arabic that was included in the release of some 47,000 other documents by the CIA.

For its part, Iran has long denied any involvement with al-Qaida. However, the report included in the CIA document dump shows how bin Laden, a Sunni extremist from Iran's archrival Saudi Arabia, could look across the Muslim world's religious divide to partner with the Mideast's Shiite power to target his ultimate enemy, the United States.

"Anyone who wants to strike America, Iran is ready to support him and help him with their frank and clear rhetoric," the report reads.

The Associated Press examined a copy of the report released by the Long War Journal, a publication backed by the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank fiercely critical of Iran and sceptical of its nuclear deal with world powers. The CIA gave the Long War Journal early access to the material.

The material also included never-before-seen video of bin Laden's son Hamza, who may be groomed to take over al-Qaida, getting married. It offers the first public look at Hamza bin Laden as an adult. Until now, the public has only seen childhood pictures of him.

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