Crude oil prices fell by roughly 2% on Friday, September 25, 2026, as markets weighed signs that the United States and Iran are looking for a route out of their conflict, according to Hindustan Times. The decline came even as attacks on Saudi energy facilities added pressure in the other direction.
Hindustan Times reports that expectations of a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz drove the selloff, with traders betting that a return to normal shipping through the waterway would ease supply concerns. Business Recorder also put the drop at about 2%, while Barchart.com described crude falling sharply on hopes of an agreement to reopen Hormuz.
The downward move came despite separate reports that Yemen's Houthis claimed attacks on Saudi facilities, news that Al Jazeera said had earlier pushed oil prices higher. The Express Tribune reported that truce hopes between Washington and Tehran outweighed those attacks in Friday's trading. Taken together, the coverage points to a market reacting more to the prospect of renewed flows through Hormuz than to the strikes themselves.
The reports do not detail the terms under discussion between the US and Iran, and no agreement has been confirmed. What to watch next: whether talks produce a concrete arrangement on Hormuz shipping, and whether further attacks on Saudi infrastructure shift the balance back toward higher prices.
