NEW YORK: Oil prices rose 5 per cent on Thursday, rebounding from the previous session’s losses, on worries that a prolonged Middle East conflict could continue to disrupt supplies.

Brent futures were up $5.26, or 5.2pc, to $107.48 a barrel at 10:57am EDT (1457 GMT), close to the session high of $107.84. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained $3.53, or 4pc, to $93.85 a barrel, after rising to as high as $94.84.

Both benchmarks slumped more than 2pc on Wednesday. Iran is reviewing a US proposal to end the war, but has no intention of holding talks to end the conflict, Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday to “get serious” about a deal to end nearly four weeks of fighting, a day after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US will hit Iran harder if Tehran fails to accept that the country has been “defeated militarily”.

“There’s purely confusion and frustration over the veracity of stories coming out of the United States and Iran. Investors are once again rotating into safer assets in an effort to preserve capital,” said Timothy Snyder, chief economist at Matador Economics.

The Pentagon is planning to send thousands of airborne troops to the Gulf to give Trump more options for a ground assault, sources have told Reuters, adding to two Marine contingents already en route.

On the Iranian side, Yemen’s Houthi movement said it stands ready to strike the key Red Sea waterway again in solidarity with Tehran, a Houthi leader said.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2026