Deal with Oman Enters Final Phase, Iran Says US Must Meet Conditions to Open Hormuz Strait

Foreign Minister Araghchi. (Source: IRNA)

JAKARTA - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that an agreement with Oman on the establishment of a new shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz had entered the final stage, reiterating that the strait would only be reopened after the United States met a number of other conditions.

The Strait of Hormuz is a shipping lane for one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments, before Iran blocked it as one of the responses to the United States and Israel's attacks on February 28.

A US official told Reuters on Friday that an agreement between Tehran and Muscat was close to being reached and could soon reopen the waterway.

Foreign Minister Araghchi said the agreement on the strait located between the two countries is in "the final stages", but reiterated his statement on Saturday, the strait will not be reopened unless other conditions are met, Al Arabiya and Reuters reported (10/8).

The agreement will establish a new shipping route to be used after the US meets the conditions and the strait is reopened, according to a quote from Araghchi's statement by Iran's Mehr news agency.

Iran and the US are not negotiating, and Tehran will not start it as long as Washington violates the interim agreement signed in June, said Foreign Minister Araghchi, adding that communication continues through intermediaries.

"As soon as an agreement to restore commercial shipping without obstacles is announced, the United States will lift the blockade on Iranian ports," the US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"US actions will depend on the implementation of commitments by the Iranian side," the official said.

The US statement indicates a sensitive sequence of steps towards an agreement that - according to information from various sources to Reuters - would seem to give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the strait; a scenario that according to shipping companies is difficult to implement.

The current status of the deal is unclear, and Iran's response indicates that there are other factors that will also play a role.

Foreign Minister Araghchi said the reopening of the strait depended on a number of conditions, including compensation by the US to Iran for the extensive attacks it had carried out.

Meanwhile, the secretary of Iran's supreme national security council, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, also mentioned points such as ending the US threat against Iran, stopping aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq, lifting the blockade and sanctions against Iran, and freeing Iranian assets.