Iran reviews US Hormuz response while coalition strikes Houthis

• Plan conditions ‘similar to Islamabad pact’
• Crude oil dips to $101 a barrel
• G7 nations release diesel reserves

Iran says it has begun reviewing the US response to a plan to end the seven month-conflict between the nations and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran will communicate its final position once its internal review of the US response to the seven-day plan is complete, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Gharibabadi said the conditions were almost the same as those mentioned in the Islamabad pact signed in June. The temporary peace plan collapsed, leading to renewed attacks by the two nations.

The review comes as the Saudi-backed coalition in Yemen has backed the Yemeni army’s strike against the Houthi militia, which has been targeting major cities in Saudi Arabia and the kingdom’s tankers in the Bab al Mandab strait, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

“The joint forces command of the coalition continues to provide full operational support to the Yemeni armed forces,” said a coalition spokesman.

The Houthis said that the group’s fighters launched drones and missiles at a Saudi Aramco facility in Riyadh in response to Saudi raids on Sanaa, the capital, and other regions which had killed civilians. But a Saudi military spokesman said on Saturday that the Houthi claims were “misleading” and were a means of trying to present “imaginary victories”.

On Friday, G7 countries, led by France, agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude from emergency reserves.

“Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked diesel oil. The process will begin immediately,” US President Donald Trump said in a social media post.

As a result, oil prices fell on optimism around a potential peace pact and oil flow through the Red Sea without any obstacle.

Brent crude futures slipped 0.76 percent to $101.50 per barrel by 03:30 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate futures shed 1.16 percent to $90.05. The two benchmarks are up almost 40 percent since the start of the year.

Further reading:

• Abu Dhabi container shuttles keep Hormuz trade flowing
• Pipelines, shuttles and a market priced for trouble
• The GCC and a new paradigm of oil geopolitics

State-backed Saudi Aramco cut the November official selling prices of heavier grades, Arab Medium and Arab Heavy, sold to Asia by $5 a barrel to offset high freight rates, Reuters reported.

Supertankers carrying Gulf oil to China are earning more than $1 million a day – nearly 30 times their 10-year average – due to the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, AGBI reported.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index rose 1.1 percent on Sunday after a five-day losing streak.

Bahrain and Oman ended higher, but Qatar and Kuwait closed lower.

The Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges will open for trading today.