(Bloomberg) -- Oil recovered after its biggest one-day drop since April 2020, as the Strait of Hormuz remained largely blocked and Israeli attacks on Lebanon threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate benchmarks climbed toward $98 a barrel after plunging more than 13% on Wednesday. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that passage of tankers through the strait was halted after Israeli strikes, while US Vice President JD Vance said there were “signs that the straits are starting to reopen.”

On Thursday, two fully laden Chinese oil tankers in the Persian Gulf were approaching the strait, potentially putting them on track to become the first such vessels to cross since the ceasefire was announced. A successful passage is not guaranteed, and there’s been little change in traffic over the past day.

The near-closure of the waterway — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the US and Israel first struck Iran at the end of February — has caused the biggest-ever oil market disruption. Vance will lead a US delegation to Islamabad for direct talks with Tehran on Saturday morning local time.

“We continue to believe the political and strategic dynamic will drive flows,” Macquarie analysts including Vikas Dwivedi wrote in a note. “If the commercial constraints can be solved or temporarily waived, as talks go the oil will also go.”

Sporadic fighting continued, including the Israeli moves in Lebanon and Iranian strikes on Gulf states. There’s disagreement between Tehran and the American-Israeli side over whether the ceasefire covers Lebanon.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said in a statement on X that three clauses of the ceasefire proposal have been violated.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic’s Ports and Maritime Organization announced two designated safe routes for vessels entering and exiting the strait, according to state-run Nour News. The passageways were established to avoid possible mines, according to the report.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated Wednesday that President Donald Trump expected the Strait of Hormuz to be “reopened immediately.”

Trump said in a social media post that US military personnel and weaponry would remain in place around Iran “until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with.” If Iran doesn’t comply, ‘the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before,” he said.

Even once Hormuz transit picks up, the return of energy supplies won’t be instant. Output has been reduced at oil and gas fields, while refineries have curtailed production or shut down. Some of those will take weeks — or possibly longer — to return to normal. Traders continued to seek North Sea crudes at elevated premiums on Wednesday, in a sign that supply remains tight.