Saudi Arabia is urging the US to drop its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz , despite claims from Washington that its Gulf allies are supportive of the action, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Citing unnamed Arab officials, the WSJ said that the kingdom is urging US President Donald Trump to "return to the negotiating table".
The officials said Saudi Arabia fears that the US naval blockade could trigger attacks on other key shipping routes, further disrupting energy markets.
Tehran's Yemeni ally, the Sanaa-based Houthi rebel group , controls a large area of Yemen's coastline on the Red Sea along the key Bab al-Mandab Strait. The Houthis have previously shown a willingness to escalate, with rocket attacks on Israel and US military positions in the region, as well as attacks on US and Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea. In the current round of fighting between Israel, the US, and Iran, the Houthis have only targeted what they say are Israeli-linked ships.
Saudi Arabia reportedly warned Washington that the Houthis could close Bab al-Mandab, which has become a key shipping route for the kingdom since the US-Israeli war on Iran disrupted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Using its East-West oil pipeline, the kingdom has shifted to exporting oil via the Red Sea, but this alternative route has also faced difficulties. On Monday, Saudi Arabia announced that the pipeline had returned to full pumping capacity of 7 million barrels per day, after damage from suspected Iranian projectiles was repaired.
For its part, Iran has indicated a willingness to escalate in the Red Sea, with the semi-official Tasnim news agency also highlighting that its own Red Sea blockade could come into play.
Separately on Monday, Iran's military warned that shipping could be further disrupted, saying in a statement: "If the security of Iran's ports in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will be safe." European states to convene conference on Hormuz French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will chair a video conference in Paris on Friday for countries that are willing to contribute to the defensive multilateral mission to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz when security conditions permit, the French presidency said on Tuesday.
Starmer on Monday said the UK had convened "more than 40 nations who share our aim to restore freedom of navigation", adding that the action would be a "peaceful multinational mission".
The UK prime minister also said that his country would not be supporting the US blockade, saying that his focus was on "getting the strait fully open". Trump's 'blockade' tested China, which is a key importer of Iranian oil, slammed Trump's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in some of its fiercest criticism of the US-Israeli war yet.
"Such actions will only intensify contradictions, exacerbate tensions, undermine the already fragile ceasefire, and further jeopardise the security of navigation through the strait," Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said. "This is dangerous and irresponsible behaviour."
Chinese President Xi Jinping also weighed in, saying that international law "must not be selectively applied or disregarded, nor should the world be allowed to regress to the law of the jungle".
However, shipping data on Tuesday - the first full day of the blockade - showed that at least three Iran-linked tankers had passed through the Strait of Hormuz, but as they did not head to Iranian ports were not covered by the blockade.
On Monday, the US-sanctioned Chinese vessel Rich Starry passed through the straight on Monday and exited early on Tuesday without being stopped by the US blockade. After news of the ship's safe passage through the strait, Iran's embassy in Ghana posted on X: "We're being told the blockade only applies to countries the US isn't afraid of. That list used to be long. It now fits on Trump's McDonald's receipt, Delivered by DoorDash."