Oil prices hold above $100 a barrel on unclear plan for future reopening of Strait of Hormuz

Trump reportedly told aides he is willing to end the war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz

Oil prices held steady on Tuesday morning.

Oil prices were steady on Tuesday morning following a report that President Donald Trump told aides he was willing to end the war in Iran without reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The front-month Brent crude contract for May delivery was up 3%, at $116.50 a barrel, while the most-active June contract , which becomes the front month on Tuesday after the close, climbed 0.2% to $107.27 on Tuesday morning.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate contracts for May delivery  rose 0.4% to $103.33 a barrel, according to FactSet data.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday evening that Trump told aides he was willing to bring the conflict to a close even if the shipping passage remained largely closed. According to the report, the president and his aides found that a mission to force open the strait would take more than four to six weeks, which is the administration's timeline for the United States' military campaign.

Instead, the U.S. would focus on its mission to cripple Iran's navy and missile stocks, while diplomatically pressuring the regime to support the flow of extracts from the Persian Gulf.

"Markets are currently struggling to find a clear directional bias, as conflicting geopolitical developments in the Middle East continue to dominate sentiment," said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com. "Investors are caught between opposing narratives, making it increasingly difficult to price in future outcomes with confidence and recent headlines have only added to the uncertainty."

That's why market actions on Tuesday morning reflected "hesitation rather than conviction," Hathorn told MarketWatch in emailed commentary.

The war has entered its fifth week after a weekend packed with conflicting messages about the possibility of the conflict ending.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday night that the Trump administration was considering a military operation to extract almost 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran. Trump told the Financial Times that his preference was to take the country's oil and that the U.S. could potentially take over Kharg Island.

Meanwhile, talks were hosted in Islamabad with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to encourage a cease-fire. The Iran-backed Houthis of Yemen joined the conflict, launching ballistic missiles at Israel.

Trump's reported decision to prioritize de-escalating the war over reopening the strait may have eased investors' concerns about a forceful takeover, but it still raises questions over when shipping from the region will return to normal levels.