Hormuz talks positive, Oman says, as Iran warns deal would not open strait

Iran said on Saturday that a deal with Oman on control of the Strait of Hormuz was close but would not be enough to free up the waterway, and the United Arab Emirates said Iran had hit another ship there. Agreement between Iran and Oman over the strait is seen as vital to a wider deal to end the war that began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28 and led to Tehran establishing a chokehold over the major energy export route. A US official, who declined to be identified, had said on Friday that Washington anticipated an agreement soon between Iran and Oman, which sit on either side of the strait, so that normal oil traffic could resume.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran and Oman were "very close" to agreement on a new shipping route through the strait but that reopening it depended on other conditions, including US compensation to Iran. The secretary of Iran's top national security body, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, listed other demands including ending US threats against Iran, stopping aggression against Iran and its Lebanese, Palestinian, Yemeni and Iraqi allies, lifting a blockade and sanctions on Iran and freeing Iranian assets. Oman condemned what it described as repeated attacks on vessels while transiting the strait, without assigning blame, and said that negotiations with Iran on arrangements for shipping through Hormuz were "positive and constructive".

"Oman stresses the importance of avoiding any actions that could affect these negotiations and the progress achieved in a manner that takes into account the interests of all parties," the foreign ministry said. Araqchi said the previous shipping traffic separation scheme through the strait was no longer acceptable to Tehran and that Iran was discussing a temporary route with Oman while technical and legal issues surrounding a permanent route were resolved. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, said he believed now was the best time for an agreement.

"There is cohesion, strength, and unity in the country, and as far as I know, Iran is considered victorious and powerful in this war," Iranian news agencies quoted him as saying. Iran has responded to the US attacks by targeting US bases in Gulf states and Jordan as well as striking shipping in the narrow strait, which carried a fifth of the world's oil and gas shipments before the war. Oman has said positive talks have been taking place with Iran over an agreement to secure a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran warned that any deal would not see an immediate reopening of the vital waterway.

Both sides suggested on Saturday that discussions were progressing, but a timeline on any deal being finalised remained unclear. Oman’s foreign ministry warned against attacks on shipping that could hamper that. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks were in their final stages but the reopening of the strait remained “subject to other conditions”.

Tehran has effectively blockaded the waterway, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas usually flows, since the US and Israel began attacking it in February. Talks in recent days have focused on the possibility of a deal between Iran and Oman on a new route through the strait, which they would both have responsibility for and is hoped would lead to progress in resuming shipping traffic. But Araghchi said a full reopening of the typically busy maritime route depended on other conditions being met, of which he provided a cursory appraisal.