Iran-Gulf meeting on Hormuz postponed, Houthis advance in Yemen

US President Donald Trump said Monday he was open to holding talks with Iran, after weeks of saying it was too early to make a deal with Tehran to end the Middle East war.

"The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage - The concept of which we are open to," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Molavi Yusef Gorgij, a senior Sunni Muslim cleric, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in southeastern Iran on Monday, the official news agency IRNA reported.

IRNA quoted a local governor as saying Gorgij "was active in the fight against divisive elements and Zionism", a description suggesting the cleric was pro-government.

Oil prices jumped Monday after Saudi Arabia closed a key pipeline amid the Middle East war, deepening worries about sustained inflation that is expected to prompt higher interest rates from the US Federal Reserve.

A widespread sell-off in technology stocks also rattled sentiment, after warnings from AI insiders that development of the technology could be outpacing the ability to control it.

The Brent international crude contract resumed climbing towards $110 a barrel, with US diesel fuel prices -- a key cost for transport, farming and construction -- hitting a new record above $6 a gallon.

Stocks opened broadly lower on Wall Street following losses across most of Asia and Europe, while the dollar gained on the back of rising oil prices and the prospect of a Fed rate cut on Wednesday.

Higher interest rates feed into fears that AI profits may not materialise as fast as hoped, fuelled by persistently high oil and gas prices from the escalating Middle East war.

Prices rose after Riyadh shut its East-West pipeline -- a key export route with Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz -- following drone attacks by Yemen's Houthis.

It came after the Houthis have been cementing their hold on the Bab al-Mandab strait, a vital shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia via the Red Sea.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned "relentless attacks" by Iranian-backed armed groups in the Gulf, following the latest strikes by Yemen's Houthis against Saudi military targets.

"We stand in solidarity with our Gulf partners in the face of relentless attacks by Iran's proxies," the European Commission chief posted on X. "We all have a stake in this."

Tehran has long supported the Houthis, but denies any involvement in the revival of Yemen's civil war.

A crucial Saudi oil pipeline hit in strikes will be mostly out of service for several weeks for repairs, officials say.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said on Monday that its passenger-carrying capacity is running above year-earlier levels as Gulf carriers rebound from disruption caused by the Iran war, with strong demand expected heading into the winter travel season, its chief executive told Reuters.

"We are back on track," CEO Antonoaldo Neves said in an interview, noting that current Available Seat Kilometres - the industry's standard measure of passenger-carrying capacity - was currently 15 to 17% higher than a year ago.

"Flights are full, full, full," he said, adding that load factor, which measures how well an airline is filling available seats, was at 92% in August while the airline is targeting an 87% plus load factor for the remainder of the year.

The Iran war affected travel earlier this year, pushing fuel prices higher and disrupting flights in the Middle East and beyond. Middle Eastern carriers, some of the world's biggest, have seen their networks upended by the conflict, but have gradually resumed their activity.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Monday said the United States opposed the Iranian nuclear agency head attending an annual conference of the UN nuclear watchdog.

"He's a sanctioned individual and we don't want sanctioned individuals evading their sanctions. He asked for a waiver of the sanctions and it was denied," Wright argued to reporters in Vienna, the seat of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Oil prices jumped on Monday as Saudi Arabia closed a key pipeline amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, fuelling worries about high inflation that is set to push the US Federal Reserve into hiking interest rates this week.

As crude futures rose once more—they began the week with gains of three percent—US average diesel prices were also shooting higher, reaching a new record high above $6.0 a gallon.

The widely expected Fed hike at a policy meeting set for Wednesday compounded a fresh selloff in technology stocks across Asia but helped strengthen the dollar.

European stock markets were mostly lower around midday, though London managed to advance, helped by gains for heavyweight oil firms Shell and BP as well as its lack of exposure to the technology sector.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported fighting on multiple fronts in Yemen killed 504 and wounded 2,379 between September 6-12.

It noted at least 77,789 people were displaced across several governorates, such Taiz, Marib, al-Jawf, Lahj, Hodeidah, Abyan, and Shabwa.

Marib accounted for 49 percent of total casualties while Taiz and areas along the west coast represented 43 percent.

Wanted war criminal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will take off for the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Wednesday, 23 September, make a the UN speech on Thursday, 24 September, and will return on Friday, 25 September, according to Israeli media.

There is no further details on whether Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump while in the US. 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper on Monday and discussed the latest regional developments, Saudi state television reported, amid an escalation in attacks on the kingdom by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis.

 Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, set up by Iran to manage passage in the Strait of Hormuz, published on Monday an updated list of 77 vessels "violating Iranian protocols for the Strait of Hormuz".

Vessels listed will face restrictions of future passage including fines, detention or confiscation, said the body, set up by Iran to manage requests of passage in the strait, adding vessels cooperating with them will be added to the list.

South Korea and the United States intend to hold regular high-level defense talks this week, as Seoul studies the option of deploying military forces in the Strait of Hormuz, announced the South Korean Ministry of Defense.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that the Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue, occurring twice a year, will be held in the southeastern coastal city of Busan from Wednesday to Friday.

“The meeting is expected to discuss a wide range of outstanding security issues, including Seoul’s restoration of wartime operational control, mutual defense posture, and shipbuilding cooperation,” the ministry said.

The two allies did not specify the details, but they are widely expected to discuss the possibility of deploying South Korean military forces in the Strait of Hormuz, amid pressure from Washington on South Korea to join efforts to secure the vital waterway.

Yemen's Houthis said Monday they had fired dozens of drones and ballistic missiles at military targets in Saudi Arabia, in retaliation for airstrikes by Riyadh.

"The Yemeni armed forces conducted a large-scale military operation targeting military installations and infrastructure, including fighter jet hangars, radars, runways, ammunition depots, and other targets located at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait," said Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree.

Missile attacks targeted three camps belonging to Iranian Kurdish opposition groups east of Sulaimaniya in Iraq's Kurdistan region early on Monday, two security sources told Reuters, adding that no casualties were reported.

Yemen’s Houthis captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, Yemeni government and Houthi officials said on Monday, strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route.

The rebels deployed fighters on the islands of Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Bab al-Mandeb Strait, according to two government officials and a Houthi official.

The Houthis took over the islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

The capture of the islands came after the rebels last week seized the port city of al-Mocha and the island of Mayun, located inside Bab al-Mandeb Strait from Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.

 Saudi Arabia requested the postponement of a meeting between Tehran and Gulf powers that was supposed to take place in Oman on Monday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

Iran's nuclear chief was blocked from attending an annual conference on Monday at the headquarters of the UN's nuclear agency in Vienna due to opposition from the United States, Iranian state television said.

"Mohammad Eslami and his delegation took a regular flight to Vienna on Saturday, but were blocked on the way because of obstructions by the United States," the state broadcaster reported, saying he had returned to the capital Tehran.

Iran’s IRGC announced it intercepted and destroyed an advanced US MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel and Lebanon will meet in Rome in October to discuss a US-brokered security agreement intended to ease hostilities along the border, a State Department Official told Reuters.

The continued implementation of the deal “remains the only viable mechanism to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty and Israel’s security,” the official said, adding that the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors will meet in Washington next week.

The seventh round of negotiations in the Italian capital ended in August without a breakthrough on key territorial issues.

Israel's ⁠military is occupying what it describes as a "buffer zone" about 10 km (6 miles) into Lebanon along the entire length of the Israeli border. Israeli officials say the​zone is necessary to protect northern Israeli communities from attacks launched by Hezbollah.

More than 4,300 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since March, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday brushed aside a report that Iran acquired satellite images of a base in Jordan from Chinese entities before an attack that killed three US troops there in July.

A recent report in the Wall Street Journal cited unnamed US officials about the attack in Jordan. Asked whether he would mention the issue at an upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump did not directly answer, and instead equated the surveillance activities of China and the United States.

"They basically do what we do," he told reporters aboard Air Force One. "When they say China spies on us, I say you're right and we spy on them too."

The Chinese and US presidents are expected to meet in the United States on 24 September, although China has yet to officially confirm that the meeting will take place.

Trump on Sunday reiterated his view that he has a good relationship with Xi.

"I think he's behaved reasonably well, and we behave reasonably well," Trump said as he flew back to the United States after a weekend trip to Ireland.

The Wall Street Journal report, which Reuters could not immediately verify, said the US officials declined to identify the Chinese entities that supplied the imagery to Iran and did not allege direct involvement by Beijing.

Oman has announced the postponement of a meeting scheduled for Monday between Iran and Gulf countries on the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a major flashpoint in the US-Israeli war on Iran.

"It has been decided to postpone to a later date the regional meeting that was to be held on Monday in Salalah, in order to create conditions conducive to a constructive dialogue," the Oman News Agency said.