Oil prices fall on hopes for ‘diplomatic breakthrough’

Brent crude fell almost 1% in Tuesday trading, touching a session low of $114.33 per barrel after climbing to almost $117 earlier in the day. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures also fell to $100.52 per barrel after jumping above $102.

Oil prices declined amid hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough, CNBC reports, as officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey held talks with Iranian officials in Tehran and agreed to continue discussions. However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei called for the country’s leadership’s conditions for ending the war to be met, Bloomberg reports, citing a statement from the Iranian leader on Telegram.

At a meeting with Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei, Mojtaba Khamenei called for Iran’s leaders’ conditions to be met to end the war in the Middle East and resolve the situation of “neither war nor peace,” according to a post on Sepah News, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Telegram channel.

The statement followed talks in Tehran on Monday between officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran aimed at easing tensions in the Middle East, Bloomberg reports, citing Iranian broadcaster IRIB.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the talks were a step toward regional security cooperation and that further consultations were possible, CNBC adds, citing Iranian news outlet Tasnim. The prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough in the Iran conflict helped ease concerns about further disruptions to global energy supplies, putting pressure on oil prices, CNBC notes.

Despite Tuesday’s decline, Brent is up more than 50% since the war in the Middle East began.