A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz took another blow as a meeting between Gulf Arab states and Iran scheduled in Oman for today was postponed.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
And in a ground offensive, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen captured a strategic port in the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the Red Sea, which Saudi Arabia used as an alternate route to export its oil.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's international correspondent Hadeel Al-Shalchi has been following the developments from Istanbul. Iran said it was going to meet with Gulf states today. The meeting got postponed. Does anyone know why?
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Well, the Iranian foreign ministry said the meeting was not going to happen, at Saudi Arabia's request. But then we didn't hear yet from Saudi Arabia. Yesterday, Bahrain said that it wouldn't attend. And of course, we don't know exactly who else was supposed to be there. Iran said they were meant to discuss the Strait of Hormuz at the meeting. Oman and Iran have been in talks for weeks to try to come to an agreement to reopen the strait, but nothing has materialized yet.
And of course, as we've been reporting, Iran has been responding to U.S. strikes by attacking U.S. military bases in Gulf countries. So the Gulf really sees itself as collateral damage and an economic victim in this conflict. But for years, the Gulf relied for its security on the U.S., and now President Trump's administration has signaled that it doesn't have a plan to end the war.
I spoke to Iran expert at the Middle East Institute Alex Vatanka, who told me that this meeting was meant to be a way that the Gulf takes matters back into its own hands - to try to get themselves off Iran's target list and to get the strait reopened. But the fact that this meeting did get postponed shows how hard diplomacy has been in preventing the spread of this conflict.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And the conflict is spreading, as Yemen seems to have now become the latest front line of the war with Iran. What's happening there?
AL-SHALCHI: Right. So the Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels have escalated their attacks on maritime shipping in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, aimed specifically at Saudi vessels. This strait is a waterway which is in the Red Sea and an alternate route that Saudi Arabia uses to ship its oil. So the Houthis' capture of a port in the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Friday and more strategic islands today is the group's latest move to control that choke point. The Houthis have also been attacking Saudi oil facilities over the past month to keep pressure on global markets.
So the rebel group has been at war with Saudi Arabia since 2015. And Vatanka told me that they now see Iran's ability to - so far - withstand U.S. pressure as a chance for them to further their own goals. And Iran, which has supplied the Houthis with military training and equipment, is starting to see a return on their investment, giving them new leverage. And that includes trying to push the price of fuel up, which happened today again.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, there's been more fighting over the weekend. What do we know about that?
AL-SHALCHI: So according to Iran's state-run media, one person was killed when an Iranian commercial vessel was struck in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military, which has been striking Iranian ships in the past, did not comment on that incident. And then the Houthis fired more drones and missiles towards Saudi Arabia over the weekend. This came after Iranian proxies in Iraq also targeted Saudi Arabia, forcing it to close its East-West Pipeline on Friday, which again will likely impact the oil market.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's international correspondent Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Istanbul. Hadeel, thank you very much.
AL-SHALCHI: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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