President Donald Trump said he was delaying military strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure until at least April 6. Trump said that talks with Iran were going very well.

The announcement came after U.S. stock markets experienced their largest drop on a Thursday since the start of the Iran war. The United States and Israel began strikes on Iran on February 28.

Oil prices had stood at about $72 per barrel before February 28. Oil prices peaked at $118 per barrel on March 19. By the following Friday afternoon, the price of oil was just below $112 per barrel.

Following Trump's announcement of a delay to military strikes, the price of oil continued to rise. Investment manager Jonathan Raymond at Quilter Cheviot said, "Investors are trying to price genuine uncertainty." Raymond said, "Markets can look skittish or confused, but what they're really doing is managing event risk in real time, with oil sitting right at the centre of that."

Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank, said, "Given the optics, many investors can not see an early end to the conflict and markets remain anxious."