Oil blinked, but the fear hasn’t gone anywhere.
Brent fell nearly 2% to around $114.5 a barrel on Monday and WTI slid to about $101.
The trigger was Qatari mediators landing in Tehran in a US-coordinated push to cool the conflict. The relief looks thin. Brent gained 6% last week after Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure. Trump says he will soon decide between a deal and renewed strikes.
Shipping through Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb is still strained, and crude is up about 80% this year.
Monday’s dip reads like a breather, not a turnaround.