Oil prices fall for fifth day after Trump says U.S. met with Iran for three hours

Crude oil prices fell for a fifth consecutive session Tuesday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. held hourslong talks with Iran.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, fell 1% to close at $99.25 a barrel. West Texas Intermediateshed 1.2% to settle at $94.59. Prices are down more than 4% this week but are still up more than 9% on the month.

Trump said the U.S. met with Iran’s delegation for three hours on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. “It was a very good meeting,” Trump told reporters during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the U.N.

In his address to the U.N. earlier Tuesday, Trump said he has a “big decision” to make on whether to seek a negotiated deal with Iran or “annihilate the Islamic Republic.”

“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” Trump said in his address. “They’re waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. What they don’t realize is that I’m not running.”

Trump said the U.S. military has recently escorted more than a billion barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. More oil is flowing through the strait under U.S. military protection than at any previous point of the war, he said.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian is attending the U.N. General Assembly. Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he was open to meeting Pezeshkian. Every attempt at a negotiated settlement between the U.S. and Iran so far has collapsed into renewed fighting.

There were signs that the supply crunch in the Middle East could ease this week. Saudi Arabia is in the early stages of restarting its critical East-West pipeline, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News. Riyadh aims to restore meaningful flows by Saturday, one of the people told Bloomberg.

Sources told Reuters that the pipeline was already pumping at a low rate and could resume exports at the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea later Tuesday.

The Saudis closed the pipeline after it sustained damage in a drone attack launched from Iraq on Sept. 10. The pipeline has played a crucial role in diverting Saudi crude oil exports to the Red Sea as the U.S. and Iran battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Riyadh has diverted oil back through Hormuz during the pipeline closure.

Ras Tanura, a port on Saudi Arabia’s east coast, had its busiest loading day since before the war started on Feb. 28, according to maritime data firm Kpler. Six supertankers loaded nearly 12 million barrels at Ras Tanura and Juaymah on Monday, according to Kpler.