Iran14 September, 20263 min read
Iran Says Yemen Events Postponed Oman Gulf Meeting on Strait of Hormuz
Meeting on the Strait of Hormuz with Gulf states postponed due to Yemen events. Oman and Iran jointly postponed to pursue regional consensus and responsibility.
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Hormuz talks delayed
Iran said a planned meeting with Gulf states to discuss the Strait of Hormuz was postponed due to “events unfolding in Yemen,” with Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei telling a news conference that Oman and Iran “have taken a joint decision aimed at arriving at a responsible” approach to management of the strait. Baghaei said the meeting, scheduled to take place in Oman, would have been an “opportunity to demonstrate the significance of these decisions,” and he added that Saudi Arabia requested the postponement. In the same account, Baghaei said Iran has “no relations whatsoever with what is unfolding in Yemen,” while the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively blocked by Tehran amid the US-Israel war on the country.
The Al Jazeera report also tied the delay to Yemen escalation, saying Houthis declared a naval blockade on their northwestern neighbour in July and that clashes escalated last week as Houthis seized the port of Mocha. Separately, the BBC reported that Iranian state media, citing the governor of Qeshm Province, said an Iranian commercial vessel was struck off Iran’s southern coast early Sunday, resulting in one death and three injuries.
Trump, Houthis, and oil
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran wanted to reach a deal with Washington as Gulf Arab states postponed a planned meeting with Iran and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis launched a fresh attack on Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly,” and Reuters reported that the comments came after the Gulf postponement and the Houthi strike on a military airbase in Khamis Mushait.
Reuters also described how Houthis said they fired dozens of missiles and drones at the airbase, targeting aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.
The BBC added that Trump said Iran was likely responsible for the Saudi attack on the east-west oil pipeline, after Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein spoke by phone with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi to discuss the pipeline incident and a joint commission.
In the same BBC account, Iraqi armed factions known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq rejected responsibility for attacks on vital Saudi facilities and offered to participate in any government investigation to identify the entity behind the attacks.
What’s at stake
The postponement of the Hormuz meeting and the widening conflict in Yemen and the Gulf left shipping and energy corridors at the center of the dispute, with Iran publishing a list of 77 ships it said violated its operating protocols in the Strait of Hormuz and warning they could face fines, detention or confiscation on future transits. The Reuters account cited by Al-Monitor said Oman had been due to host a meeting on Monday with Iran and Gulf states to discuss negotiations aimed at reopening Hormuz, but Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi announced overnight that the meeting had been postponed. In the BBC report, the Strait of Hormuz was described as effectively blocked by Tehran during the war, while Saudi Arabia’s east-west pipeline gained extra significance because Saudi Arabia uses it to move oil from eastern production fields to the Red Sea coast for export.
The BBC also reported that on Friday Saudi Arabia announced a precautionary halt to the East-West oil pipeline from the eastern region to the western coasts after it was attacked by drones from Iraq on Thursday, with injuries reported. Across the coverage, the stakes were framed in terms of control of chokepoints and the risk of further escalation, as the Reuters-linked reporting said the renewed Yemen conflict posed another challenge for Trump amid pressure from Gulf allies to help contain the Houthis while he sought to avoid opening a major new front.