The Gulf · Weekend
Vessel Struck in Hormuz Overnight as Gulf Ministers Head to Muscat; Tehran Says No Deal on Monday
Blasts off Qeshm, Houthi strikes on Jazan and Sharurah, and a Saudi pipeline still shut close a weekend in which diplomacy and force ran in parallel. Iran wants transit fees; Oman and Bahrain refuse; Qatar condemns the attacks on its neighbours.
At about two o'clock this morning Doha time, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre reported a vessel "struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz"; the ship's identity, cargo and casualties had not been published by press time, and no one has claimed responsibility. Hours earlier, Iranian state media reported two explosions heard off Qeshm Island "from the direction of the sea," unattributed. Across the peninsula, Houthi forces claimed a drone and missile strike on the Sharurah base in Najran and wounded two people in Jazan; Saudi Arabia struck back at Bab al-Mandeb, where the Houthis now hold Mayun Island and Mokha and daily transits have fallen from thirty to fifteen.
The Saudi East-West pipeline, shut on Thursday after drones launched from Iraq's Maysan province, remained closed on Saturday with no restart timetable; Riyadh chose not to retaliate at Baghdad's request, and Iraq closed its Shalamcheh crossing with Iran. An oil slick from the U.S.-struck tanker Riesco doubled to some 400 square kilometres in the Gulf of Oman.
Diplomacy narrowed rather than widened. An Iran–Oman understanding exists, but a senior Iranian official told Tasnim early today that it "establishes the basis" for reopening without reopening anything: Monday's Muscat meeting "is not expected to yield a signed agreement," Tehran still intends to "collect fees from ships," and reopening hinges on U.S. compliance with its demands. Oman rejects the fees. Bahrain will not attend, saying security "cannot be preserved through a policy of appeasement." Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar had not confirmed attendance or level by this morning. President Pezeshkian, who met the UAE crown prince at the BRICS summit in New Delhi on Saturday, wrote overnight that "Iran won't surrender"; a lawmaker declared the strategy "offensive."
Qatar's position hardened in public: the Foreign Ministry condemned the pipeline attack as "a reprehensible act and a blatant violation of international law," and in Vienna Qatar's IAEA ambassador condemned "in the strongest terms" Iranian attacks on Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, citing Security Council resolution 2817 on freedom of navigation. President Trump said Iran was "probably" behind the pipeline attack and that the war would end "very soon" after the midterm elections, while declining Saudi requests for U.S. strikes on the Houthis. Brent's last print is Friday's $104.61.
The dated record and the week ahead, Page 4
Sources: UKMTO via Arab News, 13 Sep · Times of Israel liveblog, 13 Sep · Gulf Times, 13 Sep · Al Jazeera, 12 Sep · Al Jazeera, 12 Sep · The Peninsula, 12 Sep · The National, 12 Sep · Arab News, 12 Sep · Times of Israel, 12 Sep · Gulf Times, 12 Sep · UKMTO via Arab News, 13 Sep · Times of Israel liveblog, 13 Sep · Gulf Times, 13 Sep · Al Jazeera, 12 Sep · Al Jazeera, 12 Sep · The Peninsula, 12 Sep · The National, 12 Sep · Arab News, 12 Sep · Times of Israel, 12 Sep · Gulf Times, 12 Sep