CRUDE WRAP: WTI (Z6) SETTLES USD 0.78 LOWER AT USD 102.00/BBL

The crude complex was under pressure amid renewed mediation hopes. The WSJ reported after Wednesday's settlement that US VP Vance reached out to Iranian hard-liner Rezaei in a bid to restart peace talks, sparking broad risk-on sentiment. However, Semafor poured some cold water on the report, saying that US President Trump had downplayed Vance's efforts and suggested they were about humanitarian needs. The Semafor piece also said Trump is seriously considering resuming military strikes against Iran shortly after the US midterms if diplomacy fails, while the US remains engaged in negotiations over a temporary peace deal, which weighed on risk sentiment. Subsequently, Al Jazeera stated that Iran has not yet responded to the message from Vance. On talks, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf remarked that Iran's conditions have been repeatedly and clearly stated to the mediators, and that progress can only be achieved once Iran's seven conditions have been agreed upon. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Fars reported that the Yemeni army had targeted Aramco in the latest widespread wave of missile attacks.

On products, Russia is set to extend its diesel export ban until the end of the year, according to sources. For the record, WTI traded between USD 99.79-102.31/bbl and Brent between USD 109.02-111.00/bbl.

Crude sessions driven by back-channel diplomacy headlines tend to follow a familiar sequence: an initial risk premium unwind on reports of engagement, then a partial retracement as follow-on reporting qualifies or contradicts the original story. This session fits the pattern, with the early mediation optimism faded once subsequent reporting recast the outreach as humanitarian in scope and floated renewed military options. The split that matters in these episodes is between headlines that move the diplomatic process itself, such as formal acceptance of terms or a named framework, and those that merely gesture at contact; the former has historically produced durable premium unwinds while the latter fades within sessions. Iran's restated preconditions and the absence of a formal response signal the process remains in the gesture category. The reported strike on Saudi refining infrastructure cuts the other way, and episodes where attacks on Gulf energy assets coincide with active diplomacy have tended to keep the geopolitical premium sticky even as talks progress. The Russian diesel export ban extension is a separate, structural products-market input that bears on middle distillate cracks rather than outright crude, and has typically tightened European diesel balances when extended. The follow-ons worth noting are whether Tehran formally responds, any confirmation of the diesel ban terms, and further indications of US military posture after the domestic political calendar clears.