Oil prices turn lower as Bessent says U.S. may have Iran deal "today or tomorrow"
Investing.com - U.S. President Donald Trump said renewed negotiations with Iran on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s nuclear ambitions were set to begin this week, but declined to provide a deadline for a deal to be secured.
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Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said that discussions will begin on Monday afternoon, yet did not specify where they will be held nor who will be involved.
"The deal is imminent, having to do with the Hormuz Strait and also, ultimately, the denuclearization of Iran," Trump told reporters on Sunday evening.
He stressed that the U.S. remained ready to attack Iran, even after he called off a major planned strike against the country over the weekend. Trump said talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Iran had prompted him to hold off on what he described as a “massive attack” on Iran.
The canceled strike was the latest round of de-escalation between the U.S. and Iran, after the two launched tit-for-tat strikes in recent weeks. The attacks undermined and largely dismantled a framework ceasefire deal between the two countries signed in June, although media reports suggested that regional mediators were still attempting to salvage the peace deal.
For now, the conflict has appeared to enter a cycle of escalation and detente, leaving the trajectory of the fighting mired in uncertainty. In a note to clients, analysts at ING noted reports that Washington’s preferred method of engaging with Iran now appears to be "negotiation, rather than military firepower."
Tehran, for its part, said on Sunday that it had not yet agreed to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and that its policy on the channel remained unchanged. Iran has effectively blocked the crossing for months in response to U.S. military aggression, driving up oil prices and threatening the global economy.
Trump’s comments came shortly after Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz were in their “final stages.” Iran and Oman both border the strait.
Separately, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told local media that talks with Oman involved setting a transit route through Hormuz that both sides agreed to.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark which has gyrated sharply on developments in the Middle East, fell on Monday, but are still well above pre-war levels.
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