The planned summit between Iran and Gulf Arab states in Oman was canceled at the last minute after Saudi Arabia demanded changes to the proposed wording regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Axios' Barak Ravid reported citing a Gulf source. Iran's director of Persian Gulf affairs said the meeting was not canceled but postponed at the request of several regional countries.
The planned meeting between Iran and Gulf Arab states in Oman, scheduled for Monday, was canceled hours before it was to convene. New details obtained by Axios' Barak Ravid from a Gulf source indicate that Saudi Arabia blocked the summit over objections to the proposed joint statement on the Strait of Hormuz. Riyadh feared the wording would create a new de facto arrangement and precedent at the strategic waterway, one that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council members could not accept.
The cancellation follows a series of conflicting reports about the summit's status. On Sunday at 22:13 Jerusalem, Iranian officials claimed Saudi Arabia had requested a postponement, while CNN reported the summit had been canceled and that the United States sought to refocus negotiations on a nuclear deal. Earlier on Monday, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi announced the postponement without citing a reason, as The Zioneer reported at 17:12. Iranian officials have offered yet another version: Muhammad Ali Bak, the director of the Persian Gulf department at Iran's Foreign Ministry, told state news agency IRNA that the meeting was not canceled but postponed at the request of several countries in the region.
The broader diplomatic track over the Strait of Hormuz has been turbulent. Oman has been mediating between Iran and Gulf states to reopen the waterway, which Iran and its IRGC have effectively closed. Earlier this month, Iranian officials accepted and then abandoned a Qatari-U.S. compromise proposal for a dual-routing system in the strait. The IRGC subsequently announced it had postponed any agreement with Oman, citing U.S. interference, as The Zioneer reported.
It remains unclear whether the meeting will be rescheduled or if the rift over the wording has derailed the Gulf-Iran diplomatic track. Saudi Arabia has not issued an official statement on the cancellation.
4 developments
- StrongReport: Iran abandons current Omani proposal for Strait of Hormuz, adds new demands
- ConfirmedIran's Tasnim adds details on US-Iran MOU: last-minute changes, Hormuz opening delayed
- StrongIranian FM discusses Strait of Hormuz with Omani, Saudi counterparts
- DevelopingSaudi Arabia demands return to pre-war Hormuz status; Iran refuses
Source and signal
- Open-source intake