Iran and Oman Postpone Last-Minute Meeting on Temporary Route Through Hormuz Strait

Bahrain Refuses to Attend, Saudi Participation Uncertain
Iran’s Right to Select Ship Passage Also in Dispute

The foreign ministers’ meeting between Iran and Gulf countries, which was scheduled to take place in Oman on the 14th (local time) to discuss the establishment of a temporary safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, has been postponed just one day before its opening. The decision appears to have been influenced by disagreements over which countries would participate and escalating military tensions in the Gulf region, making it difficult to reach a consensus.

Badr Albusaidi, Oman’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced around 11 p.m. on the 13th via X (formerly Twitter), “In order to reach an agreement, we are postponing the regional meeting that was scheduled to take place in Salalah tomorrow.”

In a separate statement, Oman’s foreign ministry explained that this was a decision made to “create the right conditions for constructive dialogue, so that sustainable understanding can be reached to support regional security and stability.” However, no new date for the meeting was released.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that the meeting was postponed at the request of regional countries. The Fars News Agency in Iran stated that the decision to postpone was made after discussions between the Iranian and Omani governments.

Originally, Iran had planned to officially announce a proposal to open a temporary passage for commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz during this meeting. To this end, high-level officials from Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had recently held an unusual meeting, continuing regional diplomatic consultations.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, revealed earlier in an interview with the Arab media outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that seven countries, excluding Bahrain, would participate. He said that the most important and, in fact, the only substantive agenda was “a new maritime route for the Strait of Hormuz,” and added that Iran and Oman would explain the agreements they had prepared to the participating countries.

However, even up to the eve of the meeting, the list of participating countries was still not finalized, raising uncertainty over whether the meeting would be held. Bahrain recently announced that it would not participate in any meeting involving Iran until diplomatic relations with Iran are restored, citing attacks by pro-Iranian forces targeting Gulf regional infrastructure as an issue. The situation in Saudi Arabia was also unclear, as hostilities intensified between the Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi Arabia, and the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels.

The temporary route proposed by Iran was reportedly not a full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran was to retain the right to select which ships could pass through, and details such as fees imposed on vessels were to be negotiated further between Iran and Oman.

U.S. President Donald Trump, when asked about the meeting between Gulf countries and Iran, responded, “I don’t care. It’s up to them.”

Chris Wright, U.S. Secretary of Energy, also assessed the prospects for a deal as low. He explained that currently about 10 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products are being transported daily through the Strait of Hormuz, and that, including bypass pipelines, over two-thirds of prewar volumes have been restored. He commented, “The world oil market is tighter than desired, but it is not in an overly critical shortage.”

Nevertheless, military tensions around the strait persist. At the beginning of this month, the United States and Iran exchanged attacks in the Persian Gulf. Even a key detour route around the Strait of Hormuz has faced disruptions. Saudi Arabia suspended the operation of a pipeline connecting the east and west of the country after a drone attack by Iraq-based militant groups. This pipeline is a critical alternative export route for crude oil that does not pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.