Iran on Monday announced it had canceled a meeting with Gulf Arab countries in Oman at Saudi Arabia’s request in a blow to regional efforts to advance shipping talks through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said that Riyadh had requested to not hold the meeting “for the time being”. According to Iran’s state news agency IRNA, he said that the report that Saudi Arabia requested not to hold the meeting for now is correct.
Saudi Arabia has not immediately commented on Iran’s account. The meeting is “in the interests of consensus” and has been postponed, said the Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, adding that Muscat was committed to dialogue and regional stability.
The meeting was originally scheduled to provide Iran and Oman a forum to discuss a deal that they have been negotiating for weeks over the way to handle traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Even yet, the Iran-Oman understanding has been finalised, said Baqei. Now Tehran and Muscat will have to negotiate the formalisation or registration of the arrangement.
The proposed deal is about “temporary” sea lanes through the strait, which has been so severely disrupted since the war began between Iran, the United States and Israel, Iran said.
The postponement is coinciding with rising tensions between Iran and Gulf countries. The proposed Iran-Oman deal has raised concern in Saudi Arabia, according to AP, which reported that Riyadh had introduced amendments, as it “fears the Iran-Oman deal could have repercussions for other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.”
Baqei added that he had rejected U.S. charges that Iran was behind an attack on a Saudi oil pipeline from Iraqi territory. He stated that Tehran was not involved in the incident and that Washington was seeking to sow divisions among regional countries.
He also added that Iran would continue to counter the “military and economic pressure” by the US against it, including the maritime blockade against Iranian ports.
Iran and its Gulf neighbours had been looking forward to the cancelled meeting to discuss a regional solution to the issue of maritime security and commercial shipping in the waterway, regarded by both countries as a key strategic route.
