India, April 16 -- The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating a series of oil futures trades that were placed shortly before major policy shifts by President Donald Trump related to the war in Iran, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The probe focuses on trading of oil futures contracts on platforms belonging to CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange, with investigators examining at least two instances of trades made on March 23 and April 7.

The data requested from the exchanges includes the so-called Tag 50 identifications of the entities behind the trades, which would allow regulators to trace the individuals or firms that placed the bets. A spokesperson for the CFTC declined to comment on the mat...