In the narrow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, where a third of the world's seaborne oil passes daily, Iran and the Gulf states moved toward a rare act of self-determination — direct talks, without American mediation, hosted by Oman's practiced hand of quiet diplomacy. The negotiations, scheduled for mid-September 2026, were postponed before they could begin, leaving unanswered the deeper question of whether regional powers are truly ready to govern their own tensions. The moment passed, but the impulse that created it did not disappear.