Iran says it’s in ‘final stage’ of talks with Oman on Strait of Hormuz deal

Iran is nearing an agreement with Oman to manage commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported Saturday while stressing that the arrangement would not amount to a full reopening of the strategic waterway.

Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said the countries working on a temporary maritime route for ships in the Persian Gulf.

“The opening of the Strait is subject to other conditions, including the compensation for the U.S.’s violations of the Islamabad Agreement,” Araghchi said, referring to the lapsed memorandum of understanding that Iran and the U.S. signed in June.

Iranian officials have said they will not hold talks with the U.S. until it lifts its naval blockade on Iranian ports, among other conditions.

Kazem Gharibabadi, the Iranian deputy foreign minister, confirmed that Iran had recently received messages indicating Washington “was prepared to return to its commitments” under a June ceasefire but offered no other details, according to according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA.

Trump has been under mounting pressure to end the war as gas prices remain high ahead of midterm elections and continued reports of dwindling stockpiles of U.S. munitions and missile defense systems.

On Tuesday, Trump warned that Iran would be “hit very hard” if the strait did not open soon. The Strait of Hormuz usually carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply.

But traffic has been heavily restricted since early March, when U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran on Feb. 28 were followed by Iranian attacks on commercial shipping and a U.S. naval blockade.

The pending deal would require inbound ship traffic through the strait to pass through a northern lane in Iranian waters, while all outbound traffic would use a southern route close to Oman, Axios reported earlier this week.

The agreement appears aimed at reviving parts of June’s U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding, which linked the opening of the strait to a ceasefire and broader negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

The new arrangement is meant to once again trigger a 60-day negotiating period and would not include fees or tolls for passage through the strait, PBS reported Wednesday.

As the talks continue, the risk to commercial ships remains high.

On Thursday, an oil tanker reported several explosions while passing through the Strait of Hormuz near the coast of Oman, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Organization, which monitors threats to commercial shipping.

The incident occurred about 10 miles southeast of the Omani coast late Wednesday, the report said, adding that the crew and ship were safe and no environmental damage was reported.

According to analysts at Kpler, a maritime analytics firm, there were only eight confirmed crossings through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday. Before the war, about 130 to 140 ships typically transited the waterway each day, the group has said.