Crude oil prices continued their downward trend on Tuesday morning as investors pinned their hopes on diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the seven-month-old war between the United States and Iran. Both major oil contracts have shed approximately 20% of their value this month, as traders react to the prospect of a resolution to a conflict that has driven inflation higher and compelled central banks to raise interest rates.
In Tuesday's trading, Brent crude fell 1.31% to $91.36 a barrel, while the primary US contract, West Texas Intermediate, retreated 1.59% to $85.47 a barrel.
The market sentiment follows comments from US President Donald Trump, who indicated on Monday that there was "positive momentum" toward ending the war. Trump made the remarks after meeting with the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, at the White House. On Truth Social, Trump described the meeting as an "excellent conversation," adding that "much was discussed with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran."
While market expectations had increased ahead of last week's midterms that the US might resume strikes on Iran this month, President Trump has since downplayed the likelihood of such a move, though he has not explicitly ruled it out. In his Monday post, Trump reiterated that the United States remained "locked and loaded," but stated he believed further strikes were "quite unlikely" because key US allies in the Gulf "would prefer the status quo." These comments were consistent with statements he made to CNN over the weekend, where he characterized the resumption of fighting as "highly unlikely."
