Iran, Oman agree on details of Hormuz Strait’s new entry, exit routes

Tehran/Doha: Iran and Oman have agreed on the details of new entry and exit routes for the Strait of Hormuz and will brief Gulf countries on the outcome of their consultations at a regional meeting in Muscat on Monday, Iranian officials said.

Citing a source close to Iran’s negotiating team, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said that the understanding was reached after “intensive technical and diplomatic talks between Iran and Oman, which culminated in a final agreement in late August.”

Under the understanding, the Gulf’s entry route “lies entirely within Iran’s territorial waters,” and a portion of the exit route also falls “within Iranian territorial waters,” the source said.

The source stressed that the route would operate under Iranian arrangements and the waterway’s southern route will be closed once the new system becomes operational, noting that the United States had insisted that the southern route must be opened.

“The understanding in no way means that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened,” the source said, adding that Iran has seven conditions for reopening the waterway and has conveyed them to the United States.

The source underlined that the waterway will remain closed unless those conditions are implemented, with reopening depending entirely on the US behavior, Xinhua news agency reported.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei announced on Friday that Gulf littoral states’ foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Oman on Monday to exchange views on regional issues, including the Iran-Oman talks on designating safe routes in the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking to media on Saturday, Baghaei said the gathering would “hopefully” be attended by foreign ministers from Gulf states as well as Iran and Iraq.

“As part of the agenda, we are going to brief the delegations about the results of the Iran and Oman consultations regarding the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, adding that the two countries had conducted the consultations as “the two coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.”

Late last month, Iran and Oman said in a joint statement that they had exchanged views on a proposed phased framework that includes establishing a temporary joint shipping corridor in the strait.

Following US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran restricted passage through the strategic waterway, while US forces imposed a naval blockade targeting vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports.

The Strait of Hormuz, linking the Gulf with the Arabian Sea, is one of the world’s most important routes for oil and gas shipments. Oman and Iran sit on opposite sides of the strait and have maintained consultations over maritime security and navigation in the strategic waterway.

IANS