Oil prices climbed more than 2 percent on Sunday after hopes for a second round of ceasefire negotiations between the United States and Iran unraveled over the weekend. Brent crude, the primary global benchmark, stood at $106.99 as of 1:30 GMT.

Asian stock markets shrugged off the impasse to open higher on Monday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining 0.9 percent and South Korea's KOSPI rising 1.5 percent in morning trading.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday canceled a planned trip to Pakistan by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi departed Islamabad before any direct engagement could take place between the sides.

Araghchi arrived in Russia's Saint Petersburg on Monday for talks with President Vladimir Putin and other officials as Tehran seeks a way out of the diplomatic deadlock.

Araghchi's trip, which follows a whistle-stop visit to Oman on Sunday, comes as uncertainty hangs over the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. Trump announced an extension to their two-week truce last week, without specifying a deadline for reaching a deal to end the war.

As US and Iranian negotiators struggle to break the deadlock, Tehran's threats against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have reduced traffic to a trickle, paralyzing a large portion of the world's supply of oil and natural gas. On Saturday, only 19 commercial vessels transited the strait, compared to an average of 129 before the war.

Source: www.aljazeera.com