By: AGBI

Oil prices fell on Friday morning, ending a five-day streak of gains, after the US said it would unveil its latest economic sanctions on Iran on Monday.

Brent crude futures were slightly down at $93.73 per barrel at 03:00 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate futures fell 0.2 percent to $86.62.

Both benchmarks are up more than 5 percent over the past five days, but down nearly 1 percent over the past three months.

The US will hold a press conference on Monday to set out details of its new “economic warfare” against Iran, treasury secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC.

He said the sanctions – the toughest in history – would work in the same way as those imposed on Cuba and Venezuela.

Trump announced on Wednesday the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country” and warned of “economic consequences” for any country that supports or provides a lifeline to Iran.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the proposed sanctions, calling them “economic terrorism”, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The UAE has already suspended all trade activities, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice.

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz halved on Thursday as chances of peace talks dimmed, Reuters reported, citing Kpler data.

Only seven ships transited the strait, including no crude oil or liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels.

The strait carried about a fifth of global oil and LNG supplies before the start of the conflict on February 28.

Gulf stock markets closed mixed on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia’s stock market rose 0.3 percent, supported by miner Maaden and Bahri.

Abu Dhabi’s benchmark gained 0.7 percent as investment conglomerate IHC advanced nearly 2 percent. Dubai closed slightly lower, weighed down by a slide in toll operator Salik.