Fed's Waller says higher rates possibly needed in 'near term'

The Fed held interest rates steady at its June 16-17 meeting, with policymakers evenly divided at that point over the likely need for a rate increase this year.

He spoke amid the resumption of military conflict between the U.S. and Iran, which could push oil prices higher again and remove one of the factors that had been seemingly on the brink of helping lower costs.

"There is still a credible case for inflation to begin to fall back to our 2% goal with policy at its current setting. But I am concerned about the equally plausible case that data in the coming weeks will show that inflation will remain at its elevated level or even trend higher, requiring tighter monetary policy in the near term," Waller said.