Main developments
President Donald Trump said there would be “no deal” with Iran “except unconditional surrender”.
Brent crude settled 8.5 per cent higher on Friday, topping $92 a barrel and finishing at its highest level since September 2023. The price of US oil exceeded $90 a barrel, its highest level since the war began, up almost 36 per cent since last Friday’s close.
One Middle Eastern crude oil benchmark topped $100 a barrel as refiners compete for barrels. Goldman Sachs said oil could hit $150 if Strait of Hormuz flows remain impacted.
US equity markets closed more than 1 per cent lower as the oil rally stoked concerns about inflation.
Iran’s president said some countries had started “mediation efforts”. Egypt and China have both said they will attempt to mediate in the conflict.
Israel has been striking Hizbollah infrastructure in southern Beirut. Waves of US and Israeli strikes continued to pummel Iran.
Iran launched a new missile attack on Israel. Qatar thwarted a drone attack on the US’s largest base in the Middle East.
Air travel in and out of the Middle East is slowly returning after tens of thousands of flights were cancelled, with Etihad resuming flights.
Putin held phone call with Iran’s president
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, marking the first reported contact between the two leaders since the beginning of the Middle East war.
Pezeshkian briefed Putin “in detail” about developments in the conflict during the telephone call on Friday, the Kremlin said.
Putin confirmed Russia’s stance against “the use of force to resolve problems surrounding Iran and across the Middle East” and expressed condolences to the victims of “Israeli-American armed aggression”.
Oil could hit $150 if Strait of Hormuz flows remain throttled, Goldman says
Oil could rise as high as $150 a barrel if shipping companies continue to avoid the Strait of Hormuz for the rest of the month, according to Goldman Sachs.
In a note on Friday, the bank’s analysts said oil could climb to $100 “next week” and potentially “exceed the 2008 and 2022 peaks” if flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint, “were to remain depressed throughout March”.
Brent surged to almost $130 a barrel shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and to almost $150 a barrel at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.