Oil prices slide on Monday, February 2, 2026, recording their steepest single-session decline in more than six months after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated progress in talks with Iran, easing geopolitical tensions.
Brent crude futures slid $3.38, or 4.9 percent, to $65.94 per barrel by 0528 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped $3.33, or 5.1 percent, to trade at $61.88 per barrel.
Both benchmarks retreated from multi-month highs as market fears of a potential military confrontation with Iran diminished following Trump’s remarks over the weekend that Tehran was “seriously talking” with Washington.
The sell-off was compounded by a wider slump across commodities markets, with sharp declines in gold and silver, a move analysts partly linked to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar.
Trump had repeatedly threatened Iran with intervention if it did not agree to a nuclear deal or continued killing protesters.
An analyst at Phillip Nova, Priyanka Sachdeva, said the persistent threats have underpinned oil prices throughout January.
“The recent pullback has also been reinforced by renewed strength in the U.S. dollar, which typically makes dollar-denominated oil more expensive for non-U.S. buyers, further weighing on prices,” Sachdeva said.
On Saturday, Trump told reporters Iran was “seriously talking,” hours after Tehran’s top security official Ali Larijani said arrangements for negotiations were underway.
Trump’s comments, along with reports that the naval forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had no plans for live-fire exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, were signs of de-escalation.
The crude oil market is viewing the development as a positive shift away from confrontation, easing the geopolitical risk premium that had been priced in during last week’s rally and triggering a wave of profit-taking, IG market analyst Tony Sycamore told Reuters.
Meanwhile, OPEC+ on Sunday agreed to maintain its current oil production levels for March, having already paused additional planned output increases from January through March 2026 in November due to seasonally weaker demand.
