US President Donald Trump reiterated on Sunday that he expected the Iran war to end this year, possibly just after midterm elections due in the United States in November, resulting in a drop in oil prices.
"Iran will end right after - maybe before - but it'll end right after the midterms. Gasoline's going to drop like a rock," Trump told reporters at the Irish Open golf championship.
After a month of quiet in August when flows of West Asia oil trickled back up, the past two weeks have seen a steady escalation in the war that the United States and Israel launched six months ago. No talks to end the war have been held since an interim agreement in June collapsed after a few weeks.
In a rare diplomatic initiative, Iranian officials say they will be attending a meeting on Monday with Gulf Arab states in Oman to present an agreement they say has been reached with Oman governing future shipping routes through the strait.