Crude oil futures traded lower on Tuesday morning following reports that Iran will send a delegation for a second round of talks with the US.
At 9.19 am on Tuesday, June Brent oil futures were at $95.01, down by 0.49 per cent, and June crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $86.65, down by 0.88 per cent. May crude oil futures were trading at ₹8128 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Tuesday against the previous close of ₹8184, down by 0.68 per cent, and June futures were trading at ₹7882 against the previous close of ₹7925, down by 0.54 per cent.
A Reuters report, which quoted an unnamed Iranian official, said that Iran is considering attending peace talks with the United States. However, the official said no decision had been made.
In a post on X, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, said, “Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn the negotiating table – in his own imagination – into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering. We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we are prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield.”
US President Donald Trump posted on the social media platform Truth Social that the ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’ was a complete and total obliteration of the nuclear dust sites in Iran. “Therefore, digging it out will be a long and difficult process,” he said.
In another post, he said the US will not lift the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz until there is a deal with Iran.
In their Commodities Feed for Monday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said while energy markets popped higher on Monday following Iran’s decision to reverse its opening of the Strait of Hormuz, they’re still trading in a manner which suggests optimism over US-Iran talks.
“The aim, of course, is to establish a viable off-ramp that enables energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz to resume on a sustained, long-term basis. But we believe markets are under-pricing the ongoing supply disruption. Optimism appears to be clouding the reality of the supply shock,” they said.
Stating that negotiations between the US and Iran are set to resume, they said: “It appears Iran will send a delegation too. This follows earlier suggestions that Iran wouldn’t attend as long as the US blockade continues. These talks are important, with the current ceasefire set to end on Wednesday.”
Trump has suggested he is unlikely to extend the ceasefire. Therefore, a lack of progress would likely push oil and gas prices higher. This would create significant uncertainty over when energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz might return to normal.
They said that the longer these supply disruptions persist, the tighter the oil market becomes, leaving a longer path towards normalisation for markets once hostilities end. Energy flows will take time to recover. Upstream production will also take time.
“We also need to see restocking globally following significant stock drawdowns. Taking these factors into account — along with the likelihood that any US-Iran agreement would remain fragile — it appears that while oil prices would face downside pressure, the market’s floor for the rest of the year is considerably higher than it was before the war,” they added.
May natural gas futures were trading at ₹264.80 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Tuesday against the previous close of ₹266.90, down by 0.79 per cent.
Published on April 21, 2026
