Saudi Arabia Rejects Any New Gulf Control Arrangement in Hormuz

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, a close ally of Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, criticized the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding signed on Monday and said Riyadh and other Gulf states will not accept any changes to control arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz.

He objected in particular to the idea that the deal could alter how the waterway is managed. In unusually blunt remarks, he said the strait worked well before the conflict and argued there was no safety, environmental, or shipping problem to justify a new arrangement now.

Faisal said, “Management of the strait worked very well before the conflict. There were no problems. Ships sailed freely. There was no safety problem. There was no environmental problem. There were no problems. So why should we now, as a result of a conflict, accept a new arrangement?”

He added that the proposal made no sense to him and said the proper response would be to return to the previous system, which, in his view, was already working well and should remain in place.