Iran has said that talks with Oman over an agreement to secure a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz are approaching the final stages, but cautioned that it did not mean its reopening was imminent.
Iran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait and wants to charge users for passage, repeatedly attacking ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.
The US vehemently opposes any Iranian tolls in the strait, though a June deal struck by the warring parties does allow Iran to hammer out arrangements for the “future administration” of Hormuz in conjunction with fellow coastal state Oman.
The previous Iran-US deal — meant to serve as a jumping-off point for negotiations on a permanent settlement — stated Iran and Oman would hash out future arrangements for the strait in discussion with other Gulf countries and “in line with the applicable international law”.
Iranian security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr on Saturday laid out a laundry list of preconditions for reopening the strait, including an end to the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq”.
The Revolutionary Guards — the ideological arm of the Iranian military — underscored the point, saying Hormuz’s reopening had “nothing to do with the negotiations between Iran and Oman”, adding that the “enemy is forced to accept Iran’s conditions for the opening of the strait”.
Speaking to the media, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said the US “must refrain from such interference and accept Iran’s conditions … whenever it accepts Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be reopened”.
Meanwhile, US vice president JD Vance said Washington was assessing whether Iran was prepared to make long-term changes that could improve relations with the United States.
Vance said that if Iran is unwilling to make such changes, the United States would “keep on applying the pressure” and get “as much oil and gas out of the Middle East “.
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