Iran and Oman said on Monday they had jointly agreed to postpone planned negotiations with Gulf Arab states on the future of the Strait of Hormuz, citing the need for regional consensus.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the meeting, scheduled to take place in Oman, was delayed due to “events unfolding in Yemen” and that Saudi Arabia had requested the postponement. He said Oman and Iran had “taken a joint decision aimed at arriving at a responsible” approach to managing the waterway.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi wrote on X that the meeting, initially set for Monday, had been postponed “in the interests of consensus,” adding that Muscat remained committed to dialogue supporting stability in the region.
Baghaei rejected any Iranian role in the Yemen conflict, saying Tehran has “no relations whatsoever with what is unfolding in Yemen” and does not interfere in its affairs. He said Iran would not accept being “dictated to or subjected to pressure from any outside forces.”
The delay follows escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis, who seized the port of Mocha last week, tightening control over the Bab al-Mandeb strait. The Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in July.
The talks were meant to address navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, which lies in Iranian and Omani territorial waters and has been effectively blocked by Tehran during the US-Israel war on Iran. Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed through the route. An earlier session was shelved after a vessel was struck in the strait ahead of scheduled discussions in Muscat.
Baghaei also addressed a Sunday attack on an Iranian commercial vessel that killed one person, saying two Pakistani citizens working on board were injured. He accused the United States and Israel of continuing to “target security” in the Gulf.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday its forces had intercepted and destroyed an advanced MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz using a new aerospace defence system, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Despite the postponement, Tehran said it would continue to seek a regionally backed framework for the strait.