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LONDON. — Oil rose yesterday, recouping some of the previous day’s steep price slide, after the first round of US sanctions against Iran came into effect, although confidence in crude demand has been hit by the escalating China-US trade dispute.

Brent crude futures were up 19 cents at $72,47 barrel by 1315 GMT, after having lost more than 3 percent on Wednesday. U.S. crude futures CLc1 rose 6 cents to $67,00 a barrel, having closed down 3,2 percent the day before.

The United States on Tuesday reimposed sanctions on Iran, the third-biggest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The renewed sanctions will not directly target Iranian oil until November, although U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants as many countries as possible to cut their imports of Iranian crude to zero.

“The impact of it is the greatest known unknown of the year. If worst comes to worst and 1,5-2 million bpd of Iranian disappears from the market … calculations will go out of the window and oil bears will have to brace themselves for a very rough ride,” PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga said. — Reuters.