Special menu items not being created via menu_link_save on install

I'm trying to create special menu items via menu_link_save in a hook_update_n within an install profile. Upon initial site install, the menu_link_save does not create the special menu item. However, if I run the hook_update_n AFTER the initial site install, the menu_link_save works correctly.

I've confirmed that special menu items is being enabled prior to my hook_update_n running with a drush si -d

Any suggestions? My code is below.

/**
 * Implements hook_update_N().
 *   Generate menu links
 */
function theme_config_feature_update_10001(&$sandbox) {
  cache_clear_all();
  //generate the menu links array 
  //for the header menu

  $menu_links = array();
  
  $menu_links['account'] = array(
    'link_path' => 'user',
    'link_title' => t('Login'),
    'weight' => 0,
  );
  
  $menu_links['telephone'] = array(
    'link_path' => '<nolink>',
    'link_title' =>  t( '1-800-123-4567'),
    'weight' => 2,
    'options' => array(
      'attributes' => array(
        'class' => array('phone-number', 'nolink')),
      'html' => TRUE,
      ),
  );
  
  //run menu_link_save on all of the items.
  foreach ($menu_links as $menu_link) {  
    $menu_link['menu_name'] = 'menu-header';
    $menu_link['module'] = 'theme_config_feature';
    $menu_link['options']['attributes']['class'][] = str_replace(' ', '-', $menu_link['link_title']);
    menu_link_save ($menu_link);
  }
  
  menu_cache_clear_all();  
  
  return t('Header menu links have been generated');
}