Iran says met with Oman on managing Hormuz

Iran said on Monday it had held its first meeting with Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz since signing a preliminary agreement to end the West Asia war with the United States.

The announcement came after the US said it had agreed with Iran to halt attacks following an exchange of strikes that strained the deal. The two sides are expected to resume talks aimed at ending the conflict.

Recent exchanges of fire have highlighted the fragility of the Pakistan-brokered agreement, which disrupted oil and gas shipments through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.

Iran and Oman share the waterway, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the conflict. Tehran had blockaded the strait to increase pressure on its adversaries, and its future remains a key issue in negotiations with Washington.

“During a trip to Muscat, the first meeting of the Joint Hormuz Committee was held,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on X. “While reviewing the current issues related to the strait, we exchanged views on the future management.”

Hours later, a US official told AFP that technical discussions with Iran would continue.

“Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely” in and around the strait, the official said in an email.

Iran did not immediately respond to the US statement, while the official declined to confirm reports that talks would resume on Tuesday in Qatar.

Iran has maintained that ships passing through the strait should use a corridor close to its coastline, although dozens of vessels this week have instead travelled near the Omani coast.

On Sunday, Iran warned that attempts to bypass its preferred route would heighten tensions in West Asia.

“Any attempt to adopt new or separate arrangements compared to what is underway by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will only lead to more complicated situations and delays in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and will increase the tensions,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

The Strait of Hormuz includes both Iranian and Omani territorial waters, though international law generally prevents either country from blocking passage or imposing tolls.

The memorandum of understanding published by Iran states that the future administration of the strait will be determined through dialogue with Oman and other Gulf states, while remaining “in line” with international law.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they were taking measures to regulate traffic through the strait and warned that vessels violating those measures would face tougher action.

Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, wrote on X that as long as Iran managed the strait, Washington’s “hegemonic dreams in the region will not be realised”.

Tensions escalated early on Sunday when US Central Command said it had struck 10 Iranian military targets over “continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping”. Iran said it responded by attacking US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, and both countries condemned the strikes.

Experts warned that further incidents in the Strait of Hormuz were likely.

For Iran, “a drawn-out negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait can work to its advantage”, said HA Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank.

Although the exchanges have largely not resulted in reported casualties, Qatar’s interior ministry said one of its citizens was killed aboard a boat by shrapnel from “military operations in the area”.