LIVE | Trump announces 'very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East' and causes oil prices to fall and stock markets to rebound

Oil prices fell and stock markets rose on Monday as soon as President Donald Trump ordered to postpone attacks on Iranian power plants.

This unexpected announcement caused oil prices to fall considerably, after starting the session higher. Thus, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, fell 7.52% to $90.84 and the barrel of North Sea Brent lost 6.55% to $104.84.

Both events led European stock markets to rebound. At mid-morning, the Paris Stock Exchange was up 1.53%, Frankfurt 1.92%, Milan 1.24%, London 0.18% and Madrid 0.75%.

On Wall Street, futures contracts on the main indexes also rose sharply.

In a post on his Truth Social account, Donald Trump announced the opening of "very good and productive" negotiations with Iran and announced a cessation of "any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days period."

Oil prices rose on Monday in Asian trade, with WTI crude oil rising 1.66% to $99.86 a barrel; and North Sea Brent settling at $112.98 (+0.7%).

The main Asian stock exchanges closed with losses (Tokyo, at -3.47%; Seoul, down -6.5% and Hong Kong, down -3.5%) and European ones also opened in the red.

After early trading in Europe, Paris lost 1.44%; London, 1.46%; Milan, 1.76% and Frankfurt, 1.89%.

The Israeli military announced having detected "missiles fired from Iran" into its territory and said its air defense system is ready "to intercept this threat." He later announced that shelters could be abandoned "in all regions of the country."

In addition, several explosions were heard in Tehran, Fars and Mehr agencies reported, after the Israeli military said it had launched a "wave of attacks" against Iran's capital. According to Fars, the attacks reached the north, center, east and west of the capital.

Iran warned that any attempt to attack Iranian coasts or islands will result "in all access routes and lines of communication in the Persian Gulf and coastal areas being laid with various types of naval mines," the Defense Council said in a statement published by state media.

"No country will be immune from the effects of this crisis if it continues to move in this direction," International Energy Agency (IEA) director Fatih Birol warned.

He also assured that the energy crisis due to the war in the Middle East is more serious than the two major oil shocks of the 1970s, so that "the world economy is facing a very, very serious threat today."

The Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia was targeted by two ballistic missiles. One was intercepted, and the other fell in an uninhabited area, according to the Defense Ministry.


For its part, United Arab Emirates announced it had responded to "missile and drone threats" from Iran, officials said. An alert was also activated in Bahrain, according to the Interior Ministry.

Russia and China called for a "political and diplomatic"solution to the war in the Middle East before the situation becomes "uncontrollable", after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Saturday to destroy Iranian power plants if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

"We believe that the solution should have moved toward a political and diplomatic solution," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "This is the only thing that can effectively contribute to defusing this catastrophically tense situation that has developed in the region," Peskov said.

Peskov warned against any attack on the civilian Buchehr nuclear power plant in Iran, where Russian specialists are working. "Bombings against nuclear facilities can be very dangerous and would have perhaps irreparable consequences," he warned.

For his part, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman warned that "if the war spreads and the situation deteriorates further, the whole region could be plunged into an uncontrollable situation."