
Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers plan to meet Iran's top diplomat in Salalah, Oman, the first such gathering since the US and Israel launched military operations against Iran, seeking a framework to ease tanker attacks and reopen safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has set steep conditions including a full ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and release of frozen assets, terms Washington is unlikely to meet, while Netanyahu frames the confrontation as weakening an "evil axis." The unresolved standoff over this strategic chokepoint, tied directly to active US-Israel-Iran conflict, marks a documented regional escalation with global economic consequences.