Iran · updated 1h ago · 3 min read
Oman Hosts Gulf Cooperation Council and Iran Foreign Ministers in Salalah on Monday
Oman hosts GCC and Iran foreign ministers in Salalah to discuss Hormuz Strait navigation. Negotiations aim to secure a provisional agreement on managing shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Whether the meeting is confirmed.
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The Arab Weekly says states have agreed and it is expected to go ahead, while The Edge Malaysia says the meeting is not confirmed.
Salalah talks loom
A six-member bloc of Gulf states is weighing a meeting with Iranian officials next week to discuss the future of the Strait of Hormuz, with Oman aiming to bring foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iran together on Monday in Salalah, a southern Omani city.
“Oman is aiming to get foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Iran together on Monday in Salalah”
The meeting is not confirmed, and people familiar with the matter said escalating hostilities between Saudi-backed forces and the Houthis, a group based in neighbouring Yemen and supported by Iran, may complicate the plans.
Iran said plans are underway for a meeting with Gulf neighbours on Monday to discuss the outcome of talks between Tehran and Muscat over the Strait of Hormuz, and Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said participants include Iran and Iraq.
The Financial Times was the first to report the meeting, and the Houthis are pushing towards Red Sea coastal areas bordering the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, raising fears the group will tighten its grip on the vital maritime trade route.
Tehran’s conditions
WANA News Agency said Baghaei announced the Oman meeting would address regional issues as well as the outcome of Iran-Oman talks on establishing safe routes for commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Baghaei stressed Iran’s continued efforts to promote trust and cooperation among regional countries and strengthen peace and stability without destabilizing and divisive interference by actors from outside the region.
He also said Iran remains committed to efforts to ensure the safety of navigation in the strategic waterway, but added that as long as US aggressive actions and unlawful interference, including the maritime blockade and economic warfare, continue, the security of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be guaranteed.
In parallel, the Edge Malaysia report said Tehran has insisted on retaining control over Hormuz and has been in talks with Oman for several weeks about a framework to manage maritime traffic, which would likely involve the payment of fees that the US and Gulf states are strongly against.T
Energy stakes rise
The Edge Malaysia report tied the Hormuz talks to wider shipping risks, saying the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint has become particularly sensitive for oil markets since the shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz and that a significant disruption in Red Sea shipping would ramp up pressure on Saudi Arabia.T
“A significant disruption in Red Sea shipping would ramp up pressure on the kingdom, the world’s biggest oil producer”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty cited Yemeni government sources and reported that Houthi forces reached the strategic island of Perim, also known as Mayyun, in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, with Reuters reporting forces loyal to Yemen's internationally recognized government had withdrawn from Perim.
The same Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty account said Perim sits at the southern entrance to the Bab al-Mandab, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and a crucial route for trade and energy shipments between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.
It also reported that the waterway’s strategic importance has grown sharply since the Iran war disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and that the Houthi advance followed the group’s reported capture of the Red Sea port of Mocha on September 10.