Oil Prices Slip as Vance Opens Letter Channel to Iran on Restarting Peace Talks

Crude oil prices gave up some of this week's earlier gains after U.S. Vice President JD Vance contacted Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary in a bid to restart peace talks. Brent crude traded at $114.14 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $101.45, both down from Wednesday but still well above levels at the start of October. The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that Vance wrote to Mohsen Rezaei, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, to discuss a peace deal. The move followed President Trump's threat to restart hostilities against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections. Trump said last week, "We're not negotiating with them, we are going to have something one way or another, it'll happen soon," though the Journal said he knew of and approved Vance's letter. Traders are again betting on negotiation success. Qatari mediators this week presented Iran with a new draft peace deal, Reuters reported, and Tehran said it has not abandoned a diplomatic track while insisting its conditions be met. Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthis continue attacking Saudi infrastructure, most recently Aden airport on Wednesday, while Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries appear paused, with the last confirmed hit on the Ryazan refinery on October 15, according to JPMorgan.