U.S. light crude for March delivery rose 70 cents to $66.07 a barrel in electronic trading. London Brent gained 64 cents to $64.03. OPEC's second biggest producer has said it will not use oil as a political weapon, but investors fear deteriorating relations between Tehran and the Security Council may lead to a disruption in some 2.4 million barrels of daily crude sales. Iran has warned that any sanctions against it would send oil prices beyond a level industrialized economies could bear. "Our enemies cannot do a damn thing. We do not need you at all. But you are in need of the Iranian nation," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a crowd in Tehran on Sunday. Oil has been rising since late December, climbing in tandem with tension in OPEC producers Iran and Nigeria and amid an infusion of investment from big-money funds. Prices touched $69.20 on Jan. 23, nearing August's record of $70.85, but have eased as global inventories pile up. Yet fears of supply disruptions continue to keep consumers on edge. "While (Iran) said last week it would separate nuclear and oil as issues, it was only last year it said oil could be used as a weapon to get its own way on nuclear," said David Thurtell, commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "This all adds fuel to the fire for those concerned about oil supply." Russia is working particularly hard to avoid sanctions. Adding to geopolitical uncertainty, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told a rally Saturday that President Bush was worse than Hitler. Chavez warned he could shut Venezuelan oil refineries in the United States and sell oil for the U.S. market elsewhere if Washington cut off ties. U.S. officials have made no suggestion of breaking relations. PIN/CNN