International crude oil prices rose on Monday, Aug. 10 on uncertainty over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz after Iran said a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes was in its final stages but insisted the US must still meet other conditions. Iran is currently not engaging in talks with US. However, US had earlier stated that a deal with Iran is near. Traders continue to assess mixed signals amid worries that the deal to open Strait of Hormuz may not be anytime soon.

Brent crude futures rose 91 cents or 1.09%, to $84.46 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 61 cents, or 0.78% to $78.79 a barrel. Both benchmarks had fallen more than 7% last week on hopes that Iran and Oman were close to reaching a deal that would result in a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil before the war.

While Iran said on Sunday that a deal with Oman was in its “final stages”, it reiterated that the waterway would only reopen once Washington met other conditions, including US compensation to Iran for its widespread attacks. Iran and the US are not engaged in talks and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington breaches an interim deal signed in June, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday. In a further threat to supply, a Saudi oil plant was attacked over the weekend.

The Iran-aligned Houthis said they had hit Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Sunni Muslim allies Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the US-Israeli war on Shi’ite Iran. Separately, the United Arab Emirates’ ADNOC had said that 15 of its vessels had been attacked transiting Hormuz since the beginning of the conflict.