At one of the world's most consequential maritime crossings, the architecture of dialogue has quietly collapsed under the weight of renewed violence. Gulf states and Iran were set to negotiate the terms of safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that carries a fifth of the world's oil — but those talks have been postponed as Houthi forces in Yemen escalate strikes deep into Saudi Arabia. The deferral is not merely a scheduling matter; it removes the one formal mechanism that might have kept a dangerous situation from becoming an irreversible one, while oil markets, already prici