Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday, while stocks and government bonds rallied, after US President Donald Trump cancelled planned strikes against Iran and claimed peace talks were about to resume. Brent crude was trading 5% lower at $83.47 a barrel by lunchtime, after falling as much as 7.3% to $81.55 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate dropped more than 5% to $79.47 a barrel.

Global oil benchmarks had jumped more than 20% in July after fighting between the US and Iran resumed, and as attacks on several tankers in the strait of Hormuz revived fears for the safety of vessels transiting the important shipping passage. Trump said late on Saturday on his Truth Social platform that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked for time to complete a deal that would lead to “the Immediate, Complete and Total” reopening of the strait and “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”. On Sunday, he said talks would start on Monday, a claim denied by Tehran.

Fuel prices for UK motorists continued to rise over the weekend at a time when families were heading off on their summer breaks. Petrol hit an Iran-war high of 160.85p a litre on Monday, surpassing its previous high on Friday, and diesel rose above 180p for the first time since 9 June, according to the RAC.

Simon Williams, head of policy at RAC, said: “Unleaded has now risen more than 10p a litre – 7% – since bottoming out at 150.59p on 6 July while diesel is up 16p (15.8p) a litre, or 10%, almost fully reversing June’s 16.6p reduction which was the biggest monthly drop on record.”

He said prices at the pump should begin to stabilise this week, though diesel could reach 185p over the next week.

Kathleen Brooks, the research director of the broker XTB, said the drop in oil prices should

Sursă consultată: Oil prices plunge and Europe’s markets rally after Trump calls off Iran strikes — https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/03/oil-prices-fall-europe-stock-markets-donald-trump-iran-us-brent-crude