Arabic version: أسعار النفط ترتفع مع تعثر المفاوضات الأمريكية الإيرانية

Oil prices have climbed higher amid stalled peace talks between the United States and Iran. Brent crude rose more than 2 percent on Sunday after hopes for a second round of ceasefire negotiations between Washington and Tehran unravelled over the weekend. According to Al Jazeera, Brent, the primary benchmark for global prices, stood at $106.99 as of 1:30 GMT.

Despite the impasse in negotiations, stock markets in Asia opened higher on Monday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.9 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, during morning trading. The markets appeared to shrug off the stalled negotiations as traders looked for other indicators.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday cancelled a planned trip to Pakistan by his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, after Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi departed Islamabad before any direct engagement could take place. Araghchi is set to arrive in Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Tehran seeks a way out of the diplomatic impasse.

As negotiators struggle to break the deadlock, Tehran’s threats against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have reduced traffic to a trickle. On Saturday, 19 commercial vessels transited the strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil and natural gas supplies. This marks a sharp decline from the average of 129 daily transits before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February.