Sept 12 (Reuters) – A meeting between Iran and the Gulf Arab states, scheduled for Monday in Oman, will be an opportunity to discuss issues such as the Strait of Hormuz, but is not expected to result in the signing of an agreement on the navigable waterway that remains blocked, a senior Iranian official said Saturday.
Iran has been negotiating for months with Oman, which controls the opposite bank of the strait, about an agreement that would regulate traffic through that route. Oman has long said that its negotiations have the backing of other Gulf Arab states.
Tehran announced on Friday that it plans to participate in a meeting with the Gulf states in Oman on Monday. Oman has not officially announced the meeting, and other regional countries have remained silent so far. Bahrain said on Saturday that it would not participate in meetings with Iran.
The Iranian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Monday’s meeting was convened at Oman’s initiative and would serve as a forum to discuss other regional issues, in addition to the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the Iranian official, Iran still desires an agreement that would allow it to charge fees to ships using the strait, which Oman rejects.
About one-fifth of the global oil supply passed through the strait before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February, triggering the war.
Global oil prices surged last week after both the United States and Iran attacked tankers in the strait, and Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen advanced toward another major Middle Eastern oil corridor, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula.
