Oil on track for weekly loss even as Iran tensions simmer

Oil prices eased on Friday, with Brent futures shedding 25 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $89.45 per barrel by 0035 GMT. The slide threatens to end a two-week winning run, despite a gain in the previous session. According to Business Recorder, Brent and West Texas Intermediate were on course for weekly losses of 5.3 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.

Crude rose on Thursday after a Wall Street Journal account, drawing on insiders, said Washington had repeatedly told go-betweens that it was not keen on bringing back the June memorandum with Iran. That stance makes it harder to restart talks between the two sides. Earlier that day, Washington also denied any negotiations with Iran, even as other countries tried to bring the two sides back together.

Separately, Washington imposed sanctions on Iran on Monday, which it called the toughest in history, and Tehran responded that the measures had lost their force. Geopolitical tension also rose as Moscow threatened to hit British military sites both within and beyond Ukraine, responding to Kyiv's strikes on Russian territory carried out with British-supplied long-range cruise missiles. Trump, however, said Putin would not attack a NATO member and played down reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had warned Russian officials against any such strike.