JAKARTA - Oman ensures that ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz will not be charged transit fees in the future.
According to a report by Arab News quoted on Friday, June 26, Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi conveyed this certainty in a meeting of foreign ministers of the Gulf countries in Bahrain, Thursday.
"Future arrangements related to the Strait of Hormuz do not include the application of any transit fees," Al-Busaidi said.
The statement came after Oman and Iran this week said they were discussing "fees" for maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz.
Al-Busaidi said that freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz needed to be restored. The flow of ships must also be safe and not disturbed.
He said Oman, as a country directly bordering the strait, has a special responsibility to support international efforts to secure navigation.
The meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC was attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Washington previously rejected plans to impose tariffs on ships crossing the route.
The Strait of Hormuz lies between Oman and Iran. The route is important as it is the passage of about a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before the Israeli-US war against Iran in late February.
Tehran then closed the strait to shipping. The move caused major disruptions to the global economy.
Iran and the US last week signed an initial agreement to end the conflict. In the memorandum of understanding, commercial vessels can cross the Strait of Hormuz without charge for 60 days while waiting for final peace talks.
Rubio said after the GCC meeting that Gulf states did not support tariffs in the Strait of Hormuz.
"At the end of the day there will be no fees or tariffs," Rubio said. "Oman was present at today's meeting and said they do not support a tariff system."
A day before the meeting, Oman announced a new temporary route free of charge through the Strait of Hormuz. The route is on the north and south sides of the Traffic Separation Scheme corridor, which is a line for regulating the flow of ships so that navigation is more orderly and safe.
The new route was coordinated with the International Maritime Organization, the UN body that oversees shipping safety.
AP reported that a number of oil tankers began passing through the southern route on Thursday. The route crosses the area near Oman's Musandam Peninsula.
On the same day, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards warned that any passage through the Strait of Hormuz without their permission "will be dealt with."
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