Saudi Arabia, under pressure from Iranian-allied militias in Iraq and Houthi rebels in Yemen, has postponed what would have been the highest level of multilateral talks between Tehran and Persian Gulf nations since the start of the U.S.-led war in February, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.
The host of the meeting, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, issued a statement late Sunday saying that the delay had been made “in the interests of consensus.”
However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said that Saudi Arabia requested the postponement because of “the situation in Yemen.”
Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran, last week seized major cities along Yemen’s Red Sea coast putting them in a position to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become a crucial outlet for Saudi oil exports as the Strait of Hormuz is largely blocked by Iran and the United States.
Saudi Arabia has also come under attack in recent days by drones fired from Iraq that shut down its East-West pipeline, the main conduit to get Saudi oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment, but it has not publicly denied Iran’s assertion about the reason for the delay.
The delayed meeting is the latest example of the intractable situation in the Middle East more than six months into war, with Iranian proxies increasingly on the offensive and regional officials urgently searching for a way out.
The session would have been the highest level, multilateral meeting between officials from Iran and its Persian Gulf neighbors, which Tehran has attacked with missiles and drones because of their support for the United States.
Gulf nations, in particular, are seeing their economies battered and oil export routes constricted, first with the Strait of Hormuz and now Bab al-Mandab.
“The fact that the East-West pipeline is closed narrows the options,” said Dania Thafer, executive director of Gulf International Forum, a Washington think tank. “Iran has a lot of leverage collectively at this point, and it feels like things are closing in on the Gulf — and on the global economy.”
The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, reached $110 a barrel on Friday. (It was just over $70 a barrel on Feb. 27, the day before the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign began.)
A gallon of gasoline in the United States now costs $4.30 on average, compared to $2.98 when the war began, according to AAA.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that Iran, which backs various militias in Iraq, was “probably” behind the attack on the pipeline. Trump also said that his administration had been in contact with the Houthis and that they were focused on blocking the vessels of just one country, presumably Saudi Arabia, which has backed Yemen’s internationally recognized government in the country’s civil war.
On Sunday, when asked during his trip to Ireland about the planned meeting of the Gulf nations, Trump said: “I don’t care. That’s up to them,”
Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said that the flurry of diplomatic initiatives reflects a growing anxiety among Gulf nations as they watch Iran’s leverage grow, and see little in the way of strategy from the U.S. in terms of ending the war.
“They are not just nervous and unsure about the U.S. intentions — they are worried about U.S. capability to help them,” Vatanka said. “As much as they hate shaking the hands of Iranian leaders, what else are they going to do?”
Baqaei, during his weekly news conference on Monday, said Iran “categorically denied” being involved in attacks on Saudi Arabia’s pipeline.
Iran and Oman, he said, had finalized an agreement on maritime routes through the Strait of Hormuz and are discussing how to announce it. Trump had turned to Oman as a mediator with Iran on reopening the strait but last month he threatened to bomb Oman, leaving the country perplexed.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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