Brent crude falls $3 a barrel on hopes of a US-Iran truce
Oil futures extend losses as talks between Washington and Tehran move into a technical phase
Published
Chart: USO, a fund that tracks crude, one-minute prices, three sessions
Brent crude is down $3 a barrel in trading on Friday, as hopes build for a truce between the United States and Iran.
Iran's delegation received US visas after an initial denial, and talks between the two sides have moved into a technical phase. Sources in Tehran describe a more detailed round of negotiations, with an increasingly positive tone. Iranian President Pezeshkian has said the delegation's talks with Kushner and Whittaker focused on Iran's rights under international law, and that Tehran is asking for nothing beyond that.
There is no official confirmation of a truce. The moves in oil markets reflect hopes built on the progress of talks rather than any agreement reached so far.
Brent has carried a geopolitical risk premium tied to Iran, and the scale of Friday's decline points to genuine de-escalation rather than speculative trading, given the shift from the initial New York meetings to a technical negotiating phase and the increasingly positive signals from Tehran. That risk premium has underwritten elevated oil prices, and further declines are likely if the talks keep advancing. Energy markets are repricing lower tail risk in the Middle East.