In an interview with London-based pan-Arab news outlet Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said despite any agreement with Oman, Iran would not reopen the strait until the United States satisfies Tehran's demands.
The U.S. has so far failed to achieve the objectives President Donald Trump set out when he launched "Operation Epic Fury" in February: to end Iran's nuclear programme, prevent it from being able to attack its neighbours and create conditions for its people to topple their rulers.
On a weekend trip to Ireland that included attending the Irish Open golf tournament, Trump reiterated that he still expected the Iran war to end this year, possibly just after U.S. midterm elections in November, and then the price of gasoline would "drop like a rock".
In Saudi Arabia, state media released video of damage to homes and a mosque from the latest purported cross-border attack by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Jazan province in the south. The Houthis claimed separately to have struck a Saudi military base in a neighbouring province following their capture of Perim Island in the Bab El-Mandeb, the "Gate of Tears" strait that controls the mouth of the Red Sea.
The Houthi advance along the Red Sea coast is part of the biggest eruption of fighting in Yemen for years.
Their advance and their attacks on Saudi Arabia pose a new dilemma for Washington, which wants to support its Saudi allies and protect shipping but is wary of joining war on another front. The Houthi attacks have also left Gulf states with a difficult choice: accept growing economic pain or engage with Iran.
The United States bombed the Houthis for two months in 2025, but Trump halted that campaign after announcing the group had lifted a threat to attack Red Sea shipping.
Three sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, phoned Trump on Thursday asking for military aid to fight the Houthis, but was offered only intelligence support for now.
Trump acknowledged on Saturday that he had spoken to the crown prince, and said the Houthis had also phoned the U.S. administration, asking Washington to keep out of the Yemen war.
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