LEADING European nations, Japan and Canada, are offering to join efforts to secure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but that has not stopped the price of oil from surging. In a joint statement on Thursday, after earlier hesitating, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan expressed “our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait,” through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) transit. Looking to curb soaring oil prices, United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US may soon remove sanctions from Iranian oil stranded on tankers, and said a further release of crude from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve was possible. Brent futures rose $1.67, or 1.5 percent, to $110.32 a barrel on Friday, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude added 33 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $96.47. For the week, benchmark Brent was on track to rise nearly 7 percent, while WTI was set to fall about 2 percent in its first weekly decline in five weeks. “The potential for a quick reversal in energy prices is unlikely because damage has been done to production,” said Ole Hansen, the head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. “The fact on the ground remains that we have a tight market.” Israel and Iran traded fresh attacks on Friday, following a hit on an oil refinery in Kuwait. Brent jumped higher than $119 a barrel on Thursday, coming close to a March 9 peak, after Iran responded to an Israeli attack on a major gas field by ​knocking out 17 percent of Qatar’s LNG capacity, causing damage that will take up to five years to repair. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to repeat attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure. Netanyahu said Friday Iran was being “decimated” and that the war would end earlier than many feared. Traders also welcomed Trump’s remarks that Israeli forces would not target any more of Tehran’s energy infrastructure, after strikes on a key gas field on Wednesday sparked warnings of retaliation against installations across the Gulf. But with the conflict heading into a fourth week, equities mostly fell as investors fret over energy markets, with oil still holding around $100 and gas surging amid the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Netanyahu told a news conference on Thursday that Israel and the US were “winning and Iran is being decimated,” adding that the Islamic republic no longer had the capacity to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles. “This war is ending a lot faster than people think,” he said without providing a specific time frame. Netanyahu also said he would help the United States try to secure Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas flows. His comments came after Washington said there was no deadline to end the war launched against Iran on Feb. 28. Before Netanyahu’s comments on Thursday, the commodity had soared to as high as $119 after Tehran struck a number of energy sites around the Gulf in retaliation for Israel’s attack on its South Pars field. Asked whether he had talked to the prime minister about attacking Iranian gas fields, Trump replied: “I did. I told him, don’t do that, and he won’t do that. “You know, we’re independent. We get along great. It’s coordinated, but on occasion, he’ll do something, and if I don’t like it... and so we’re not doing that anymore.” He had warned Iran earlier that US forces would “massively blow up” the South Pars field if Tehran did not stop attacking Qatar, to which Iran said it would have “zero restraint” if its energy infrastructure was hit again. French President Emmanuel Macron said his country planned to talk with permanent members of the UN Security Council about establishing a UN framework — once the ongoing exchange of fire had ended — to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. In a sign, the conflict was unlikely to end soon, Israel launched a wave of strikes on Tehran on Friday as Gulf nations faced fresh attacks, while Iran continued to target neighbors with an oil refinery in Kuwait set alight after a drone attack. While Wall Street enjoyed a late rally on the remarks, Asian stock markets slipped as nervous traders awaited positive developments in the crisis. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Taipei and Wellington all fell, though Seoul, Mumbai and Bangkok rose. Tokyo was closed for a holiday. London, Paris and Frankfurt opened higher. “Netanyahu’s remarks have poured a layer of soothing balm over sentiment, with talk of securing the Strait and claims that Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities have been neutralized, feeding the idea that this conflict could burn out faster than feared,” wrote Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. “That narrative matters because it shortens the perceived life of the supply shock. But even if the geopolitical chapter closes sooner than expected, the energy system does not reset on command. “You do not rebuild liquefaction trains, repair export terminals or restore confidence in global shipping lanes with a press conference.”