Saudi state television reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met on Monday with the commander of U.S. Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, to discuss the latest regional developments amid escalating attacks by the Yemeni Houthi group against the Kingdom.
This meeting comes days after three sources told Reuters that the Crown Prince had requested military assistance from U.S. President Donald Trump to confront the Houthis.
The U.S. website Axios had reported, citing U.S. officials, that the Saudi Crown Prince had made two phone calls to President Trump on Thursday, urging him to launch strikes against the Houthis.
The report stated that Trump rejected the request, and U.S. officials said the administration did not intend to carry out direct military action against the Houthis at this time.
Reuters sources added that while Trump did not approve U.S. strikes against the Houthis, Washington informed Riyadh that it would provide support in the areas of intelligence sharing and target identification.
This comes amid a statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry that Saudi Arabia had requested the postponement of a meeting between Tehran and Gulf states, which was scheduled to take place in Oman on Monday. Additionally, Iran’s top nuclear official was barred from attending a meeting in Vienna under "U.S. pressure."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that "citing the Yemeni issue as a reason for postponing the meeting" regarding navigation routes in the Strait of Hormuz was a "flimsy pretext," denying any Iranian involvement in Yemeni affairs.
Baghaei added: "Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs," noting that the Houthis are "completely independent entities that make their decisions based on their own interests."
Mohammad Ali Bek, an official at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, had stated on Sunday evening that the meeting had been postponed "at the request of some regional countries" and by a joint decision between Iran and Oman, indicating coordination with Muscat regarding a new date.
The Iranian Tasnim News Agency blamed "external parties," claiming that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had been influenced by U.S. and Israeli pressure.
Meanwhile, Iran announced on Monday that it had summoned the Austrian chargé d'affaires after the European country refused to allow the head of Iran's nuclear program to participate in a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said: "The Austrian government's refusal to issue visas to the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is an entirely unjustified decision."
He added: "It is clear to us that this incident occurred under U.S. pressure, but that does not absolve the Austrian government of responsibility."
A U.S. report had indicated that Iran's top nuclear official was prevented from attending the IAEA General Conference in Vienna following pressure from the Trump administration, according to Bloomberg.
Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's deputy president for nuclear affairs, was scheduled to address the UN nuclear agency on Monday, according to a U.S. official cited by Bloomberg.
A U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, told the agency that the refusal to grant Salehi a sanctions waiver to allow him entry into Austria was in response to U.S. demands, although another Iranian representative of lower rank might replace him.
The agency noted that U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright intends to use this forum to issue a warning to Tehran, emphasizing that the U.S. position is unequivocal: "Iran must never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon."
In another development, Baggai stated on Monday that reports of activities at the "Jabal al-Fas" site are baseless, after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to target the site, saying that the United States is monitoring activities there.
Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, established by Iran to manage transit requests through the Strait of Hormuz, published an updated list on Monday comprising 77 ships that “violate Iranian protocols for the Strait of Hormuz.”
The authority stated that ships included on the list would face future transit restrictions, including fines, detention, or confiscation, warning that any ships cooperating with those violating vessels would also be added to the same list.
In a post on the X platform, the authority said: “We warn insurance companies, protection and indemnity clubs, and maritime classification societies from providing services to these ships to avoid the consequences of dealing with them.”
Preliminary ship-tracking data released on Monday showed a decline in the number of cargo ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend to fewer than 10 ships per day, a level significantly below the 10-day average of 14 ships.
On the economic front, oil prices rose sharply following the closure of a major pipeline in Saudi Arabia, with Brent crude surpassing $107 per barrel, amid waning hopes for diplomatic progress in the region.
Saudi Arabia kept its main East-West pipeline, which stretches 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from east to west, closed throughout the weekend after it was damaged by drone attacks on Friday.
Sources speaking to Reuters provided varying estimates; one indicated that repairing the damage could take between five and six weeks, while another source suggested it might be repaired sooner, with partial pumping resuming while repairs continue.
