Brent oil edged lower in a choppy session, with traders parsing the status of negotiations between the US and Iran against a backdrop of persistent unrest in the Middle East.

The global benchmark settled near $109 a barrel after Bloomberg reported that claims the US and Iran are close to an agreement are inaccurate. An earlier unconfirmed report on Iran war negotiations had knocked oil off of five-month highs, with the commodity at one point falling as much as 3.3% before paring losses, while European natural gas futures also dropped.

Crude prices have jumped about 80% this year as hostilities flare across the Middle East, with Iran most recently stepping up attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Though traders have grown adept at tuning out wartime rhetoric, particularly Washington's efforts to jawbone prices lower, headlines signaling material changes to flows can still jolt the market.

Traders are particularly wary of potential efforts by the White House to dial down its Iran conflict before the Nov. 3 midterm election, with soaring energy costs set to be a key voter issue. When prices last topped $100 a barrel for an extended stretch nearly five months ago, the US and Iran entered a short-lived ceasefire agreement that briefly reopened Hormuz, the vital energy transit route.

"This close to the election, the optics are just as important as the fundamentals," said Dan Pickering, chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners. "Folks are concerned about potential market-moving headlines and a little quicker on the trigger to take profits."