Brent Drops Below $90 On US-Iran Peace Hopes

The price of Brent North Sea crude, the main international benchmark, dropped under $90 a barrel Tuesday for the first time since August on growing hopes of an end to the US-Iran war.

Brent slid 3.1 percent to $89.66 a barrel, extending sharp declines in recent trading sessions. The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, shed 2.3 percent to $84.86.

US President Donald Trump said Monday that there was momentum toward ending the war with Iran, as he declared that the country “militarily, is effectively over”, but kept open the possibility of new strikes.

Iran on Tuesday urged the United States to meet its demands in a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after President Donald Trump spoke of “positive momentum” to end their eight-month war.

“The conflict with Iran will not be resolved through military means, nor by intensifying sanctions,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iran’s IRNA news agency.

“The only solution is to adopt a language of respect, engage in diplomacy, and address Iran’s demands and conditions — which were outlined in the two-day proposal and remain on the table.”

Tehran has proposed reopening Hormuz, which it has blockaded since the start of the war, within two days in return for Washington meeting a raft of conditions.

These include ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending the US counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump, whose Republican party last week lost midterm elections in part due to the war, said on Monday that there was “positive momentum” towards ending the conflict after meeting Qatar’s prime minister at the White House.

In a post on social media, Trump reiterated that the US was “locked and loaded” but said further strikes were “quite unlikely” given that key US allies in the Gulf “would prefer the status quo”.

“We are seeing positive momentum toward an end to this conflict, and will ensure that America’s interests are at all times protected,” Trump said.

Diplomatic efforts, led by Qatar and Pakistan, are underway to find a resolution to the war, which broke out in late February when US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

On Tuesday, Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei urged Washington to “surrender” to the Iranian demands.

“The war on Iran has already wrecked the US government. But Washington flails like a desperate gambler. FOLD YOUR HAND. STOP manufacturing FAKE NEWS about imaginary talks,” said Rezaei, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in a post on X.