Oil tanker owners DHT Holdings and Heidmar have suspended new bookings to the Mid-East Gulf, three ship brokers said, following suspected attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.

Iran's supreme leader told Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday that it was pointless to reply to a message he had brought to Tehran from U.S. President Donald Trump, as a peacemaking visit was overshadowed by attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

A U.N. mission monitoring a peace deal between warring parties in Yemen's Hodeidah region said on Wednesday it had not detected any Houthi military forces in three key ports since the group withdrew a month ago.

Austria's government said on Wednesday it plans to shut a Saudi-funded center for religious dialogue in Vienna after parliament urged it to try to prevent the possible execution of a teenager in Saudi Arabia over acts committed when he was a minor.

The Saudi-led military coalition vowed to respond firmly to a missile attack by Yemeni Houthi forces on a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that wounded 26 people.

U.S. Republican members of Congress pushed back on Wednesday against President Donald Trump's plan to sell $8 billion in weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, saying it was "unfortunate" the administration used an emergency declaration to avoid Congressional review.

Saudi Arabia's air defence forces intercepted two drones launched by Yemen's Houthis and targeting the city of Khamis Mushait, a Saudi led coalition spokesman said in statement released by Saudi Press Agency early on Tuesday.

Qatar's foreign minister said Sunday that Doha rejected the outcome of the recent Mecca talks on mounting regional tensions with Iran as it had not been properly consulted.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday his country was ready to talk with Tehran "with no preconditions", but with no indication lifting sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme is on the table.

Iran will not negotiate with the United States, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, after President Hassan Rouhani signaled talks with Washington might be possible if sanctions were lifted.

Qatar commented on the workshop to be held in Bahrain next month.

President Donald Trump's administration is bypassing Congress to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, citing a threat from Iran, despite lawmakers' concerns about their possible use against civilians in Yemen, a senator said Friday.

The Qatari Cabinet issued a decision identifying the categories that have the right to apply for political asylum, and revealed the advantages enjoyed by the political asylum seeker.

Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) began "enhanced security patrols" in the international waters of the Arabian Gulf area on Saturday, the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman invited Gulf and Arab leaders to convene emergency summits to discuss the implications of this week's attacks against the kingdom and neighboring United Arab Emirates, the foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Middle East Monitor website said that the tensions in the Middle East appear to be pushing up the price of oil, with a barrel of Brent crude now costing $71.75, an increase of 1.9 per cent. The cost of a barrel of US crude, meanwhile, is now $62.48, up 2.6 per cent.

Two Saudi oil tankers were damaged in a "sabotage attack" off the United Arab Emirates coast, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday, quoting the Saudi energy minister.

Eight citizens were killed in the island of Tarot off the coast of the kingdom's eastern province, when the Saudi forces opened fire against them and claimed they are wanted.

Four commercial vessels were targeted by "sabotage operations" near the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates without causing casualties, the foreign ministry said on Sunday, without giving details of the nature of the sabotage.

Saudi Arabia's stock market fell on Sunday, in line with most Gulf markets, after the US Pentagon approved the deployment of a warship and Patriot missiles to the Middle East.