Talks postponed in Oman
Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz stalled this week after a planned meeting in Oman was called off. Oman had been due to host Iran and Gulf states in Salalah on Monday to discuss arrangements for shipping through the waterway. Oman announced the postponement, and Iran said the delay came at Saudi Arabia's request.
The strait has been mostly shut since the war began on February 28. Before the conflict, about 20 percent of the world's oil exports passed through it. Iran has threatened vessels that transit the waterway without its authority.
Tanker damaged, two crew missing
The United Nations' International Maritime Organization reported that the vessel El Gaia was damaged on Saturday. The agency did not say how the damage occurred, and two seafarers are missing. Reuters said it could not immediately reach the ship's owners in Dubai to verify the accounts.
Conflicting reports circulated about how and when an oil tanker was damaged, a sign of how volatile shipping in the region has become. Saudi tankers have been rerouting around the Horn of Africa instead of using the Suez Canal.
No talks until conditions are met
President Donald Trump repeated on Monday that Iran was eager to make a deal quickly. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, rejected that message on X, writing, "No talks until Iran's conditions are met."
Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have escalated attacks on Saudi Arabia at the same time. The group has advanced along Yemen's Red Sea coast, capturing the port of Mocha and the island of Perim, which sit near the Bab el-Mandeb strait linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
With two of the world's most important shipping routes under pressure, Israel, the United States and key Arab states are coordinating their response more closely than at any point in recent years, according to regional analysts. Oil prices have risen as the confrontation spreads.