JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - After rising to its highest level since July 2022 Sunday evening as U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said there were 'no guarantees' that oil prices would fall in the coming weeks, the price of oil fell below the $105 mark Monday with the International Energy Agency saying that oil reserves from Member countries in Asia-Oceania will be made available immediately.
IEA also said that oil stocks from member states in the Americas and Europe will be made available starting from the end of March.
Brent crude is trading around $104 per barrel and WTI crude oil is trading near $99 per barrel Monday.
'I think that this conflict will certainly come to an end in the next few weeks,' Wright said in an interview with ABC News. 'Could be sooner than that, but the conflict will come to the end in the next few weeks.'
'There's no guarantee in wars at all,' he told ABC's co-anchor Martha Raddatz in 'This Week' program. 'I can guarantee the situation would be dramatically worse without this military operation to defang the Iranian regime.'
'Right now, our focus is destroying their military capabilities, including those that are used specifically to threaten the straits,' he added. 'But we need to finish those tasks first, and you will see the straits open again in the not-too-distant future.'
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump had said he is in talks with around seven countries to help protect the Strait of Hormuz, and warned it would be 'very bad for the future of NATO' if allies don't help secure the critical shipping lane.
Trump added that he expects China's support in this regard, failing which, a proposed summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will be at risk.
Meanwhile, as the Middle East war entered its third week, an Iranian drone attack sparked fire at an oil terminal in Fujairah, on the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates.
This prompted authorities to suspend flights at Dubai International Airport overnight.
Separately, in an apparent missile attack from Iran, A Palestinian was killed in a civilian area in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
There are reports of heavy bombing in Iran's capital Tehran.
Saudi Arabia says it intercepted dozens of drones launched from Iran overnight.
The situation in Lebanon is escalating as Israel launched 'limited and targeted' ground operations in south Lebanon targeting 'key Hezbollah strongholds.'
This is in addition to the resumption of missile strikes by Hezbollah militants in support of Iran and devastating counter air strikes from Israel targeting many areas of the south and capital Beirut.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
