No full reopening of Strait until US fulfils deal, Iran and Oman agree on temporary route through Strait
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A temporary route will soon be opened through the Strait of Hormuz, as a result of a week-long discussion between Iran and Oman over control of the strait, which handles one-fifth of global oil shipments, though Iran insisted that the strait will only fully reopen when the US fulfils its commitments under an interim peace deal signed in June.
It was announced by Kazem Gharibabad, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, on Tuesday after high-level talks with Oman’s top diplomats in Tehran to finalise the details of a phased framework for managing the strait, according to Al Jazeera.
The Strait of Hormuz has been shut since the US-Israel war on Iran began in February.
Speaking on national television, Gharibabadi announced that both countries had signed an agreement for an alternative route, “through our territorial waters, and part of the exit route would also be through our territorial waters”, the transit corridor of which would be seven miles (11.3km) wide, as a temporary facility.
As Trump is still pressuring Iran to bend its knees before the US, while Iran insists on no further talks unless the US proves that it is committed to fulfilling the previous peace agreement and no reopening of the Strait in the near future, Gharibabadi hinted that technical talks are planned to develop a long-term arrangement, including mechanisms for information sharing and navigational and security services.
He also dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claim that all mines had been cleared from the strait’s international waters, saying it was “only aimed at calming the markets”. He warned that US mine-detection vessels would become “very good targets” if they entered the area.
Gharibabadi insisted that the US must fulfil its commitments under the June memorandum, including sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian assets, if it wants a return to the diplomatic track.