Iranian officials will meet on Monday in Oman with representatives of some Gulf Arab states, as the regional conflict has widened in recent days. Yemen has emerged as the latest front, with Iranian-backed Houthi militants seizing the strategic port of Mokha and the island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. They have also attacked Saudi energy sites and sought to blockade Saudi shipping, exacerbating a global oil and gas crisis. Saudi Arabia was forced to shut its East-West Pipeline on Friday after it was targeted by drones from Iraq. The meeting in Oman will take place as talks with the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have stalled. Iran has continued to fire on ships passing through the strait, squeezing Gulf Arab states and roiling global oil markets. Last week, the price of Brent crude briefly exceeded $110 a barrel before dropping to about $104 on Sunday. Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the meeting would be held in Oman, which has often served as a mediator between the United States and Iran. Participating countries would discuss efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iranian officials have demanded concessions from the United States before ending their blockade, including lifting sanctions and releasing frozen U.S. assets. The Trump administration is unlikely to take those steps without Iranian moves to curb its nuclear program. It was unclear which Arab states would attend the meeting.

Bahrain, which has repeatedly been targeted by Iranian missiles and drones, said it would not participate in any talks with Iran. Other countries that have been targeted, however, have signaled openness to dialogue. Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan, the Emirati heir apparent, met with President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in India on Saturday — the first public meeting between the countries since the beginning of the war.

Ship operators still face severe risks in the region. On Sunday, a vessel was struck by a projectile while traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire to break out, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.