Oil Trades Near One-Week High as Iran Counters Europe Economy

Oil traded near the highest settlement in almost a week as concern that supplies from Iran will be disrupted countered speculation Europe may enter a recession as it struggles to tame its debt crisis.

Oil pared losses of as much as 0.6 percent after Iran’s Fars news agency said a nuclear scientist was killed in a bomb attack in Tehran. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is visiting China and Japan as he seeks support for sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program. The Persian Gulf nation has threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz if its oil exports are blocked. Germany’s economic growth slowed last year and Spanish factory output shrank the most since 2009, reports today showed.