Oil falls about 1% amid a U.S.–Iran exchange of counterproposals; Brent at $96.92

Oil prices fell by about 1 percent on Thursday amid a careful diplomatic exchange between Tehran and Washington, as the Reuters agency reports in Al Jazeera’s liveblog on the Iran war.

Brent futures fell 1.1 percent, to $96.92 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude dropped 1.4 percent, to $89.18 a barrel, according to data cited by Reuters. Both benchmarks had risen by about a dollar a barrel on Wednesday.

Despite the daily drop, September was a strong month for oil: Brent gained about 14 percent — its biggest monthly rise since July — while WTI rose about 5 percent, driven by concerns over supply through the Strait of Hormuz and by the American blockade of Iranian ports.

The price fluctuations directly reflect the course of the seven-month U.S.–Iran war: every signal of diplomatic progress or military escalation translates immediately into the energy markets, with Hormuz remaining the critical artery of a fifth of the global oil supply.