Hormuz meeting with Iran and Gulf nations postponed, Oman says

A planned meeting for Sept 14 between Iran and several Gulf nations on creating a temporary shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz has been postponed, according to Oman’s foreign minister.

Badr Albusaidi said in a post on X that the meeting is being delayed “in the interests of consensus,” without offering any details about next steps. 

The meeting was put off to ensure “appropriate conditions for a constructive dialogue that contributes to achieving sustainable understandings supporting the region’s security and stability,” Oman’s Foreign Ministry added in a post on X.

Iran said the meeting of foreign ministers was postponed at the request of regional countries, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Tehran had planned to formally unveil an agreement on the shipping lane after a flurry of diplomatic activity, including a rare meeting between senior officials from Tehran and Abu Dhabi.

In the days ahead of the planned meeting, it wasn’t clear which nations would attend. Bahrain had ruled out participating, citing recent Iranian-backed attacks on Gulf sites, while escalating fighting between Saudi Arabia-backed forces and the Houthis, a group based in neighbouring Yemen and supported by Iran, was also complicating the plans.

Tehran had indicated any deal won’t amount to a full reopening and it would still decide on which ships can cross the strait. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the proposed meeting as an “important event” and a step toward building trust, in an interview with Al Araby Al Jadid. 

Negotiations on details such as the fees ships may be charged were set to continue between Iran and Oman after, according to people familiar with the talks, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

Brent crude oil prices have topped US$105 (S$133) a barrel in recent days as renewed Middle Eastern tensions heightened concerns about global supplies. Soaring prices at the pumps pose a problem for Trump’s Republican Party with just over 50 days to go before midterm elections.

Talks between Tehran and Muscat over the waterway, a global chokepoint for energy exports, have progressed in recent weeks and the latter had been aiming to bring together foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council on Sept 14 in Salala, a southern Omani city.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for rare public discussions between the two powers on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in India.

Sheikh Khaled and Pezeshkian stressed the need to ease tensions, promote de-escalation and strengthen regional stability, according to the United Arab Emirates’ state-run WAM news agency. 

Pezeshkian has expressed “balanced and rational” stances throughout the protracted crisis, Anwar Gargash, an adviser to the UAE president, said on X.

Asked earlier on Sept 13 about a possible meeting of Gulf nations with Iran, Trump told reporters, “I don’t care. That’s up to them. That’s fine.” 

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright had also downplayed the chances of a Hormuz deal during an interview on Sept 13. He said markets will need to continue relying on transit that he estimates is supplying 10 million barrels a day of crude and oil products through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Together with bypass pipelines, that means “we’re back to two-thirds or north of two-thirds of the previous flows,” Wright said. “So the world oil markets are tighter than we’d like today, but they’re not overly tight.” 

The US and Iran exchanged strikes on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf earlier in August. Tensions flared again in the strait over the weekend, with UK Maritime Trade Operations saying on Sept 13 a fire broke out on a ship hit by a projectile the day before. 

Iran’s state-run IRIB reported an “enemy strike” on a commercial vessel off Iran’s Qeshm and Hengam islands that killed one person.

Saudi Aramco shares fell nearly 1.1 per cent on Sept 13 to their lowest level since March, after the kingdom closed its East-West pipeline, a key alternative to the Strait of Hormuz for its oil exports, due to drone attacks by Iraq-based militants. BLOOMBERG