Oil Falls $3 as Iran Signals...

Crude oil fell more than $3 a barrel after Iran's foreign minister expressed confidence in talks with western governments on the country's nuclear program and the dollar gained before a meeting of Group of Eight leaders.
Oil dropped for the first session in four as Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told CNN yesterday that talks are ``in a new environment'' and ``new approaches'' are possible. The dollar rose to its highest against the euro in more than a week as G-8 leaders are expected to signal support for the currency.

Crude oil for August delivery fell $3.87, or 2.7 percent, to $141.42 a barrel at 10:07 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Oil reached a record $145.85 on July 3 on speculation any attack on Iran may disrupt exports from Iran, OPEC's second- biggest producer.

``Obviously, there's some selling pressure here, some profit taking going on....

The fewest Americans in three years likely traveled over the July 4th weekend as record gasoline prices and a slowing economy forced consumers to curtail spending, according to AAA, the largest U.S. motoring group. The number of people taking trips of at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home over the holiday weekend will fall 1.3 percent to 40.5 million, AAA said.

Regular gasoline at the pump, averaged nationwide, rose 0.1 cent to a record $4.108 a gallon...
Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. are meeting in Japan for three days. President George W. Bush said at a news conference in Japan yesterday that ``the U.S. believes in a strong-dollar policy.''

Brent crude oil for August settlement fell $2.23, or 1.5 percent, to $142.19 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. Futures climbed to a record $146.69 on July 3.