Oil rises above $100 a barrel again after Iran denies talks with US

Oil prices rose again on global markets today, with North Sea Brent crude returning to above $100 a barrel. This comes after Iranian officials denied that the country was holding talks with the United States on ending the war in the Middle East. Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after US President Donald Trump announced that he had ordered the Department of Defense to postpone attacks on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure by five days; the White House chief said this was because both sides were holding productive talks.

North Sea Brent crude rose 4.6 percent today to 104.49 USD a barrel, after falling by more than ten percent on Monday. US light crude WTI added 4.8 percent to 92.35 USD a barrel, recouping some of Monday’s 10.3 percent decline.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf denied that Iran and the US were negotiating to end the war. In a post on social media platform X, he called such claims fake news intended to manipulate financial and oil markets.

Trump had earlier written on social media platform Truth Social on Monday that the United States had held productive talks with Iran over the previous two days on ending the war in the Middle East completely, and extended an ultimatum originally set at two days. The president made the delay to military strikes conditional on the success of the current meetings and discussions, which he said would continue this week.

Last Saturday evening (overnight into Sunday CET), Trump gave Iran a 48-hour ultimatum to fully unblock the Strait of Hormuz, saying the United States would otherwise begin destroying Iranian power plants. Tehran responded by warning that if Trump carried out his threat, Iran would attack critical infrastructure across the Middle East. According to Reuters, this marked a dramatic escalation in a conflict that had lasted more than three weeks, and oil prices rose in response.

Israel and the US launched an attack on Iran on the last day of February. Iran has retaliated by attacking Israel and Arab states in the region that host US military bases. Traffic through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz has fallen by approximately 90 percent as a result of the war. Under normal conditions, roughly one-fifth of global oil and natural gas supplies pass through the strait.

Oil prices in dollars per barrel (about 159 litres):