Iran and Oman have settled the details of new entry and exit routes for the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian officials said on Saturday, and will brief Gulf countries on the outcome at a regional meeting in Muscat on Monday. Whether a single extra ship moves because of it is another matter.
Tasnim, a semi-official Iranian news agency, quoted a source close to Iran’s negotiating team who said the understanding followed “intensive technical and diplomatic talks between Iran and Oman, which culminated in a final agreement in late August.” Under it, the Gulf’s entry route “lies entirely within Iran’s territorial waters,” and part of the exit route does too. The route would run under Iranian arrangements, the source said, and the southern route would close once the new system starts. The source noted that the United States had insisted that the southern route be opened.
Not a reopening
The source was blunt. “The understanding in no way means that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.” Iran has seven conditions for reopening the waterway and has passed them to the United States, the source said. Without them, it stays closed, and reopening “depends entirely” on U.S. behaviour.
Meeting in Muscat
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Friday that Gulf littoral states’ foreign ministers would meet in Oman on Monday to swap views on regional issues, including the Iran-Oman talks on safe routes. He told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Gulf states, Iran and Iraq would “hopefully” attend. “As part of the agenda, we are going to brief the delegations about the results of the Iran and Oman consultations regarding the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, calling Iran and Oman “the two coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Late last month the two countries said in a joint statement that they had discussed a proposed phased framework, including a temporary joint shipping corridor in the strait.
How it got here
After U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, Tehran restricted passage through the strait, and U.S. forces imposed a naval blockade on vessels heading to or from Iranian ports. The strait links the Gulf with the Arabian Sea and carries a large share of the world’s oil and gas shipments. Oman and Iran sit on opposite sides of it and have kept talking about maritime security and navigation.
