Iran War Updates: Oil prices jump to near 4-month high as Oman-Iran talks on Strait of Hormuz postponed

The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea coast, and the Houthis fired into neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government.

Yemen’s government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coastal region as one official conceded a “painful” defeat last week as the Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The strait is the southern gateway to the Red Sea, making it a crucial alternative shipping route for Saudi energy products with the Strait of Hormuz severely impeded by the U.S.-Iran war.

The escalation between the Houthis and the Saudi military has ratcheted up pressure on global oil supplies, pushing crude prices up toward four-month highs as it threatens to further choke Saudi Arabia’s oil exports.

CBS/AP

Oman’s foreign minister said the country had to postpone a meeting Monday in Muscat with Iran and other regional countries to discuss the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran had said foreign ministers from regional countries would meet in Oman to discuss efforts by Iran and Oman, located on the other side of the strait, to manage shipping on it. But the Foreign Minister of Oman, Badr Albusaidi, said on X late Sunday that the meeting had been postponed “in the interests of consensus.”

Iran and Oman agreed to postpone the talks “at the request of some regional countries,” said Mohammad Ali Bak, an official in Iran’s foreign ministry who was quoted by IRNA on X.

Saudi Arabia has submitted amendments to the Iran-Oman agreement, citing concerns that the emerging deal could have lasting implications for the Strait of Hormuz that could negatively impact other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, according to a Gulf official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Iran, Oman and mediating nation Pakistan had voiced optimism a couple weeks ago that the two states with coastline in the strait were poised to announce agreement on a new mechanism to control commercial traffic through the vital waterway. 

CBS/AP

Oil prices moved higher early Monday as U.S.-Iran tensions remained escalated while Iran-backed Houthi rebels stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.2% to $107.94 per barrel. It was at roughly $72 a barrel before the start of the war in Iran in late February.

Benchmark U.S. crude was also up 3.2% to $103.26 per barrel.

Iran and the United Arab Emirates, whose relations have deteriorated since the start of the Middle East war, want to “turn the page,” the Iranian president claimed on Sunday.

“For the first time since the war and the incidents that occurred in the Persian Gulf, we had a constructive exchange with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi,” President Massoud Pezeshkian said a day after a meeting with Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in India on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. “It was agreed that we would turn the page, look to the future and build it together.”

After the U.S. and Israel sparked the Middle East war by launching joint strikes on Iran at the end of February, Tehran retaliated against America’s allies in the region, with the UAE bearing much of the brunt.

In August, the UAE announced it was suspending trade and financial exchanges with Iran.

Dubai, the UAE’s largest city, is home to a deeply rooted Iranian community and is a vital economic lifeline for Iran, which is struggling under the weight of U.S. and international sanctions.

CBS/AFP