ADEN/DUBAI — Middle East diplomacy appeared to falter heading into Monday with the postponement of a meeting between Iran and other Persian Gulf powers, while fresh attacks around the region’s two most important oil transit routes deepened concern over global energy supplies.

Oil prices jumped as markets reopened on Monday, following developments that threaten supplies from the world’s biggest exporter, Saudi Arabia, which kept a key 1,200-km (745-mile) east-west pipeline closed throughout the weekend after it was damaged in drone strikes on Friday.

Iran’s foreign ministry had said there would be a meeting hosted by Oman where the future of the Strait of Hormuz, vital for global oil and gas flows, would be negotiated.

Tehran said Iraq and Gulf countries would take part, without specifying which states, but no country in the region had confirmed its participation while Bahrain ruled out attending.

“It has been decided to postpone to a later date the regional meeting that was to be held on Monday in Salalah, in order to create conditions conducive to a constructive dialogue,” the Oman News Agency said on Sunday.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X that “we remain determined to promote dialogue that contributes to stability and lasting cooperation in our region.”

Iran’s Fars news agency cited an Iranian foreign ministry official as saying that the Oman meeting was postponed at the request of some regional countries in a decision jointly made by Tehran and Muscat. The official said Iran would coordinate with Oman to determine a suitable date for holding the meeting.

The Strait of Hormuz has been subjected to an Iranian and later a US blockade since February 28, when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, prompting a wider war across the region.

A June accord between Washington and Tehran faltered on disagreements over Hormuz, and a blistering offensive in recent days by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has given the Tehran-allied group leverage over a second critical waterway, the Bab al-Mandeb.

Oman and Iran have been discussing for several weeks how to manage Hormuz.

The strait was free to transit before the war, but Iran now requires vessels to obtain permission and is considering a mechanism to impose service fees.

Ships that do not comply are regularly targeted by Iranian strikes, while the United States periodically bombs the Iranian coastline to challenge the Islamic Republic’s control of the........

© The Times of Israel