Brent Crude oil futures plunged by 4% early on Wednesday to trade below $100 per barrel for the first time in a week, after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled the war in Iran could end within three weeks.
As of early morning trade in Europe, Brent Crude was down by 4.52% at $99.20, and WTI Crude was down by 4.04% at $97.30, after President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office late on Tuesday that the United States would be leaving Iran “very soon” and military action could end in two or three weeks.
“We leave because there’s no reason for us to do this,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ll be leaving very soon.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later posted that “President Trump will give an Address to the Nation to provide an important update on Iran” at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
After weeks of insisting that negotiations are being held, President Trump late on Tuesday also suggested that the U.S. doesn’t need to make a deal with Iran and could just declare victory and leave.
“No, they don’t have to make a deal with me when we feel that they are, for a long period of time, put into the Stone Ages, and they won’t be able to come up with a nuclear weapon,” President Trump said.
“Then we’ll leave whether we have a deal or not. It’s irrelevant now. It’s possible that we’ll have a deal because they want to make a deal.”
Oil prices plunged in the wake of these comments, although it’s unclear when the Strait of Hormuz could reopen to normal traffic.
“Even if the Strait reopens, clearing the vessel backlog would take time, with production, exports, and LNG flows normalising only gradually rather than immediately,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a note on Wednesday.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- Chevron Reports “Extensive Damage” at Major LNG Project
- Iranian Drone Sets Kuwaiti Oil Tanker on Fire
- Macquarie: Two More Months of War Could Send Oil to $200
