Six Gulf states are scheduled for a rare meeting with Iran with the aim of resolving the Straight of Hormuz impasse.
Emerging details indicate that the extraordinary meeting will take place next week on Monday in Salalah, a southern Omani city.
People familiar with the matter said that this would be the first gathering with the Islamic Republic since war erupted more than six months ago.
Oman, the host is aiming to get foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council and Iran together on a roundtable. Foreign ministers from Gulf states and Iran are scheduled to discuss safe commercial shipping routes.
Several Gulf states have agreed to attend the meeting and it is expected to go ahead, a source in Oman was quoted with anonymity.
However, Washington has cautioned Gulf states against negotiating independently with Iran.
The United States has opposed arrangements between Tehran and Muscat that do not include the US.
The United States has maintained a naval blockade of Iran.
Hormuz supplied around 20 percent of global oil before the war and normally carried about 125 large commercial vessels a day.
Traffic in the straight of Hormuz has since fallen dramatically as the war grinds on into it’s seventh month.
The vessels transiting through the Straight of Hormuz include tankers, bulk carriers and ships carrying fertiliser, steel and grain.
The disruption around Hormuz is unfolding alongside renewed fighting in Yemen, where Iran-aligned Houthi forces seized Mocha on Thursday and advanced along the Red Sea coast towards strategic islands.
The developments have increased pressure on the Bab al-Mandab strait, another critical maritime chokepoint linking major shipping routes.
