Oil prices plunge 6pc as US-Iran talks ease supply fears

Oil prices fell around 6 per cent on Monday (November 2) as diplomatic efforts to end the US-Iran conflict eased fears of further disruptions to oil supplies from the Gulf.

International benchmark Brent crude dropped $6.90, or 6 per cent, to $106.50 a barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell $6.25, or 6 per cent, to $97.87 a barrel as of 1400 GMT.

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has approved the government's pursuit of talks to end the conflict, state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi travelled to Doha on Monday to exchange messages with Washington through Qatari mediators.

Baghaei said Iran's proposal linked the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to an end to the US naval blockade of Iran.

US President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call that he wanted to give diplomacy more time before deciding whether to resume strikes on Iran, Axios reported.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Trump preferred a diplomatic solution and had yet to decide on further strikes.