International
Oil Plunges After Trump’s Remarks on Iran
By midday Monday, the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent crude for May delivery had fallen by 9.63% to $101.39.
Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after Donald Trump announced a postponement of strikes against Iranian power plants.
In a dramatic shift in tone, the U.S. president said that the United States and Iran had held “very good and productive discussions toward a complete cessation” of hostilities.
Trump specified on his Truth Social network that the talks “will continue this week” and announced a “five-day” delay of any strikes on power plants or energy infrastructure in Iran.
At around 11:20 GMT (12:20 in Paris), the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent crude for May delivery was down 9.63% at $101.39, after briefly dropping more than 14%. Its U.S. counterpart, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in the same month, was down 9.39% at $89.01.
Meanwhile, European stock markets rebounded sharply at midday, following the drop in oil prices. After falling by more than 2% in the morning, the Paris stock exchange was up 1.53% around 11:30 GMT, Frankfurt rose 1.92%, Milan 1.24%, and London 0.18%.
