Iran and Oman are near agreement on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian officials said, but Tehran warned the arrangement by itself would not be sufficient to restore normal commercial traffic. The apparent progress comes as the United Arab Emirates reported a new incident in which a vessel linked to its state oil company was struck while transiting the strait.
U.S. and regional officials have for weeks signalled that a deal between Iran and Oman - the two countries that sit on opposite sides of the narrow waterway - could be close. A U.S. official who declined to be identified told reporters that Washington expected an agreement soon and that, once announced, the United States would lift the blockade of Iranian ports, enabling a resumption of unrestricted commercial shipping.
Iran’s conditions and the limits of a bilateral route deal
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Iran and Oman were "very close" to settling on a temporary route through the strait while technical and legal issues for a permanent traffic scheme are resolved. At the same time, Araqchi emphasised that reopening the strait would rely on additional conditions, including demands on the United States to provide compensation to Iran. He also said Tehran found the previous shipping traffic separation scheme unacceptable.
Separately, a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said reopening the Strait of Hormuz was contingent on Washington accepting Iran’s conditions and was not a matter determined solely by the Iran-Oman talks. The Guards' spokesperson, Hossein Mohebbi, did not detail those conditions in remarks reported by Iran’s Tasnim news agency, but said the United States must cease interfering in the regional negotiation process. "Whenever the United States accepts Iran’s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be reopened," he said.
U.S. stance and the role of performance-based actions
A U.S. official indicated that the United States would act on a deal announcement. "Once the deal is announced to restore commercial shipping without impediments, the United States will lift the blockade of Iranian ports," the official said, adding that U.S. measures would remain "performance-based and tied to Iran’s implementation of its commitments."
In recent weeks, the article quoted that the Trump administration had repeatedly signalled a deal might be imminent, even as Iran had previously denied that negotiations were underway. It remained unclear whether the latest round of discussions would produce a durable arrangement that resolved the technical, legal and political questions that currently surround shipping through the strait.
Security incidents and attacks on shipping
The United Arab Emirates reported that Iran had struck a carrier affiliated with its state oil company with a missile while it transited the Strait of Hormuz, saying there were no injuries. Iranian media carried the UAE report but omitted the portion in which Abu Dhabi blamed Iran for the incident. There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities on the UAE report.
The report followed broader patterns of maritime attacks linked to the conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, which Tehran says prompted its own responses. According to the reporting, Iran has struck U.S. bases in Gulf states and Jordan and has targeted shipping in the narrow strait that before the conflict carried about one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas shipments.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said that 15 of its vessels had been struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the conflict, describing those incidents as unprovoked attacks. ADNOC reported that the attacks have killed one crew member and wounded 20 others.
Proposed deal details and regional objections
Sources cited in reporting earlier in the week had described a proposed Iran-Oman arrangement that would give Iran some measure of control over ships entering the Gulf through the strait. Those reports said a senior Iranian source and two regional officials viewed the concession as one of the largest in talks to end five months of hostilities between Iran and the United States.
U.S. officials have repeatedly stated they would not agree to Iran controlling access to the waterway, and it was unclear whether Washington had sought changes to the parameters of the proposed deal.
Commercial disruptions and wider regional activity
Iran has been reported to justify charging a toll on oil tankers and to fire on vessels that attempt to cross the strait without its permission. Those actions have disrupted global shipments, contributing to higher energy prices and inflationary pressure, according to the reporting. The situation has been compounded by parallel maritime attacks conducted by Iran’s Yemen-based allies, the Houthis, which have targeted ships at the other major oil chokepoint on the western side of the Arabian Peninsula between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Iranian media often publish accounts of attacks on ships they say violated Tehran’s directives without explicitly stating Iranian responsibility for the strikes. That framing has contributed to uncertainty about attribution amid a series of incidents affecting commercial and energy-sector shipping.
What remains uncertain
While officials on several sides report movement toward a negotiated route between Iran and Oman, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz for unimpeded commercial traffic remains conditional on wider political and legal steps, and on U.S. acceptance of Iran’s demands. Regional and U.S. officials have expressed differing views on the acceptability of aspects of the proposed arrangement, and recent attacks on shipping add to the uncertainty about whether any agreement will promptly restore normal maritime traffic.