Iran and Oman have agreed on a temporary maritime route for ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, Al Jazeera reports.
He, however, warned that the waterway will not fully reopen until the United States fulfils its commitments under an interim peace deal signed in June, which has since lapsed.
The US-Israel war on Iran, which began with strikes on Tehran on February 28, has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, sending global energy markets into crisis. The narrow waterway through which one-fifth of global oil and natural gas supplies from Gulf producers are shipped in peacetime has become a major bone of contention between Washington and Tehran, and disagreements over the critical channel continue to hinder any hopes of a lasting peace plan.
Since the US bombing of parts of Iran in July following more disputes over the strait, Iran has refused to hold direct talks with it. Even though active warfare has since paused again – replaced by a strategy of piling economic pressure on Iran – it has maintained that it will speak directly to only Oman about the future of the waterway, which passes through the territorial waters of the two countries.
Iran and Oman have reached agreements on their share of the Strait of Hormuz and its revenues, Iran's Revolutionary Guards spokesperson said, according to a report by the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Wednesday.
The spokesperson said the U.S. was obstructing negotiations between Oman and Iran, leading to them being delayed.
