BBC:

Peter Hoskins

The price of oil has fallen sharply after US President Donald Trump said that the war in Iran would come to an end "very soon".

Oil had reached almost $120 a barrel on Monday over fears that the conflict would cause lengthy disruption to energy supplies from the Middle East, but dropped back to around $93 following Trump's comments.

Although crude prices are still significantly higher than they were before the war, stock markets rebounded with London's FTSE 100 index opening up 1.3%.

The president said he thought "the war is very complete, pretty much", although he later warned Iran to not block the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping route crucial to global oil and gas supplies.

"If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far," he said on social media.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said "in response to Trump's nonsense", that Iran''s armed forces will "not allow the export of a single liter of oil from the region".

Earlier on Monday, Trump told a news conference in Florida: "We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil.

Then, I think you'll see it's going to be a short-term excursion."

During trading in Asia, Brent crude fell below $84 a barrel at one point before rebounding to $93.76.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 4% to $90.96 a barrel.

The fall in oil prices on Tuesday has given traders a moment to "exhale", but energy markets remain in a state of "total tug-of-war", said Alberto Bellorin from oil and gas investment firm InterCapital Energy.

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