Oil slips below $100 after Trump calls US‑Iran talks “very good”; Saudi readies pipeline restart

Oil prices fell below $100 a barrel on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said representatives from the United States and Iran had held a meeting he described as “very good”.

Early trade moves prices under the $100 mark

In early Asian trade, Brent crude was at $98.91 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate was at $89.93 per barrel, both down from prior levels that had repeatedly pushed through the symbolic $100 barrier since the Middle East war began in February.

Trump flags three‑hour meeting and follow‑ups

Trump told reporters he had attended a three‑hour meeting between US and Iranian representatives at the United Nations, calling it “very good” and “very productive,” and saying “they have another one scheduled in the very near future.”

His remarks followed a separate, bellicose UN address in which he said he faced a “big decision” on whether to make a deal with Iran or to “annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly.”

Market reaction and expert comment

Traders and analysts interpreted the talks as a factor shifting pricing away from pure escalation risk toward the possibility of diplomacy.

“The three-hour US‑Iran meeting matters because it shifts the market from pure escalation pricing toward a genuine diplomatic process, even if a final deal still looks distant,”

said Stephen Innes of Quintex Intel.

Saudi moves to restore export routes

The price dip also came as Saudi Arabia reportedly restarted operations along its East‑West Pipeline, a key export route that had been closed because of the regional conflict. Bloomberg quoted a source saying Riyadh was aiming to resume exports later in the week.

According to the same reporting, Aramco told Asian refiners they could soon pick up crude from the Red Sea port of Yanbu, while European customers were reportedly told they would not be allocated oil in October.

Wider market context

Asian equity markets were mixed. Market commentary also noted fresh activity around artificial intelligence, with several firms releasing new, cheaper AI models and related investor interest influencing sentiment in the region.

Analysts highlighted that, beyond trade talks and pipeline news, the broader impact of the Middle East war and any international efforts to influence Iran would remain central to market direction.

“But the higher impact issue will be the war in the Middle East and any support the US can extract from China to use its leverage to sway the Iranians,”

said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.

Key price snapshot (around 4:15 SA time)

• West Texas Intermediate: down 0.7% at $89.93 per barrel
• Brent North Sea Crude: down 0.3% at $98.91 per barrel