Oil prices edged lower on Friday as markets weighed possible US-Iran diplomacy against attacks involving Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis. Brent fell 0.69% to $105.85 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude benchmark, declined 0.86% to $93.80 at 0032 GMT. The retreat followed a volatile week in which both contracts gained as much as 5% on Thursday. Negotiators in New York are exploring a phased path out of the war that would see Tehran reopen the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lift its economic blockade of Iran. The conflict, which began at the end of February, has curtailed about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments and pushed prices 50% higher in March alone. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis, while the kingdom increases crude volumes through its East-West Pipeline even as tanker loadings have not resumed.