Iran said on Sunday that it is close to concluding a final agreement with the Sultanate of Oman to establish new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz. However, Tehran reiterated that the United States must fulfill other conditions—including paying compensation and ending sanctions and military threats—before the strategic waterway is reopened.
اضافة اعلان
A US official said Friday that reaching an agreement between Iran and Oman is imminent and could pave the way for restoring safe transit through the strait. The passage had served as a primary corridor for oil and gas shipments before Iran closed it in response to US and Israeli strikes on Tehran that began in late February.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated Sunday that reaching an agreement with Oman regarding the strait has reached its "final stages." Nevertheless, he reiterated comments made Saturday that Tehran will not reopen the corridor unless the US satisfies specific demands.
Iran's Mehr News Agency quoted Araghchi as saying that the agreement will define the new shipping routes to be used once the United States meets those conditions and the strait is reopened.
Araghchi noted that Iran and the US are not holding direct talks, and that Tehran will not initiate any as long as Washington violates an interim agreement signed in June, adding that messages are being exchanged through intermediaries.
US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Axios that the US is dealing with Iran "quietly."
"We are only having partial negotiations with them," Trump added. "We're just watching Iran with the massive inflation they have, and the fact that they don't have any money."
Conditions Include Compensation
Araghchi said that reopening the strait will depend in part on the United States paying compensation for damages caused by its large-scale attacks on Iran.
Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, Secretary-General of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, outlined other demands: an end to further US threats targeting Iran, a halt to attacks on Iran and its allies in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Yemen, and Iraq, the removal of the US naval blockade in the Gulf, the lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran, and the unfreezing of Iranian assets.
The United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran more than five months ago. Trump stated that the attacks aimed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and to undermine its capability to threaten the region.
Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in June, but the US reinstated a blockade on Iranian maritime traffic in the Gulf in July. Tehran stated this violated the truce, which had already collapsed by that time.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Once the agreement is announced to resume unhindered commercial shipping, the US will lift its blockade on Iranian ports."
The official added that US actions would be tied to Iran fulfilling its obligations.
The American comments suggest a delicate sequence of steps leading to a deal, which sources told Reuters would apparently grant Tehran control over vessel traffic entering the Gulf through the strait—a measure shipping companies said would be difficult to implement practically.
The UAE said Saturday that Iran had attacked a vessel belonging to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. There was no immediate comment from Tehran, whose Revolutionary Guard has previously attacked ships it said attempted to cross the strait without Iranian authorization.
Reuters
