What's going on?

Iran and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany entered the final stages of negotiations, which would potentially lift crippling economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for a 10-year suspension on research into advanced uranium enrichment methods. Representatives from China, Russia, the U.S., UK and France as well as Germany met with Iran in the Swiss city of Lausanne for the multi-day meeting. Western countries led by the U.S. and EU have imposed sanctions on Iran since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

What does this mean?

The deadline for the Iran negotiations was supposed to be the end of Tuesday, but parties voted to extend the deadline to Wednesday given the progress made. The negotiations have caused oil prices to decrease since it is possible that Iran would be able to become a major exporter of oil if the sanctions were lifted which would increase the supply of the world oil market and thereby decrease oil prices. If an agreement were to be reached, Iran would be able to potentially add around 500-700,000 barrels of oil per day to their already 1.1 million barrel per day worldwide oil production. The western nations are anxious to reach a deal which would limit Iran's ability to gain nuclear capabilities.

Why should I care?

The worldwide oil supply is already oversupplied, and prices are very low, flooding the market with increased supply would make the prices go down even further. Consumers would see a potential decrease in your daily gas prices if the sanctions against Iran are lifted and they increase production and exportation of oil. The U.S. is already experiencing very low gas prices and these would drop further if Iran starts to export oil to the U.S. One investment opportunity would be to invest in oil on the commodities exchange since it may be at an all time low and so a good buying opportunity, although if Iran starts to export oil the price could drop further providing a better buying opportunity. You could also invest in certain the oil and gas stocks that are publically traded.