Powell says Fed not yet ready to look through higher oil price impact on inflation

March 18 (Reuters) - Whether the U.S. Federal Reserve "looks through" the impact of Iran war-induced higher oil prices as it assesses inflation will partly depend on whether there is more progress this year in bringing down core inflation driven by goods prices, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday.

"The thing that's really important that we see this year is progress on inflation through a reduction in goods inflation as the one-time effects on prices of tariffs go through the system, go through the economy," Powell said.

"The question of whether we look through the energy inflation doesn't really arise until we have kind of checked that box," he added.