Evening Edition, September 12

Iran's President Pezeshkian said Iran and Oman will sign an agreement Monday in Muscat on a joint shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, in the presence of Arab Gulf foreign ministers, with the IMO then notified.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters no signed agreement is expected from Monday's Muscat meeting, saying Iran still wants to collect transit fees from ships using the strait, which Oman rejects.

Bahrain said it will not attend the Muscat meeting or any collective meeting involving Iran until diplomatic relations are restored (ties cut in January 2016).

Pezeshkian said Iran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz when the United States ends its naval blockade and attacks, adding Washington failed militarily and turned to economic pressure.

Yemeni government forces announced they will deploy weapons and aircraft to retake areas seized in the Houthi lightning offensive, including the road to the port city of Mokha.

Satellite and open-source imagery show the Houthis mobilizing on Sept 12, days after capturing Mokha, Perim Island, Dhubab and the Hanish islands.

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader called the Houthi west-coast advance a 'clear victory' in a post on X.

Brent settled Friday at $104.61/bbl (down 2.8% on the day, up 8.7% on the week); WTI fell to $100.05 (up 9.4% on the week), with the pullback aided by reports of Oman's planned Hormuz meeting.

The U.S. national average diesel price topped $6 a gallon for the first time ever on Thursday, and the EIA estimated Middle East crude-production shut-ins averaged 6.7 million barrels a day in August.

President Trump told reporters in Dublin that Iran was 'probably' behind the Thursday drone attack launched from Iraq that shut Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline (~5 mb/d to the Red Sea).

Trump said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called him twice Thursday urging U.S. strikes on the Houthis as they advanced in Yemen; Trump declined, saying the U.S. is focused on freedom of navigation.

Trump said the Houthis called his administration saying they do not want the U.S. directly involved; the Islamic Resistance in Iraq denied responsibility for the pipeline attack, and Iraq closed some borders as a precaution.

BRICS leaders unanimously adopted the New Delhi Declaration, expressing deep concern over Middle East escalation and urging maximum restraint through dialogue and diplomacy, without naming any country.

On the BRICS summit sidelines, Pezeshkian met Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a notable direct Iran-UAE contact despite opposing sides in the war.