IRAN’s Foreign Ministry has said that talks with Oman over future transit routes through the Strait of Hormuz have been “moving forward”, with the coordinates of the routes now agreed upon.
Responding to questions from reporters, the ministry’s spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Wednesday that the talks had been under way for the past two months with the aim of “determining a safe transit route for commercial shipping through the strait”.
“The geographical coordinates of the route proposed by the two sides have been agreed upon, and provided that certain third parties do not obstruct the process, the joint statement by the two countries, incorporating the main considerations and points of agreement, is also in the final stage of review and drafting,” he said.
Moreover, Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, told Iran’s IRNA state news agency on Wednesday that an understanding between the two countries had been reached on almost all issues, including the location of entry and exit routes for maritime traffic.
He said that under the planned arrangement, large parts of the shipping route would go through Iran’s territorial waters, and some parts would also pass through Oman’s waters.
While existing temporary routes would be closed, the new route would be used for a period of two to four months or potentially longer, Gharibabadi explained.
Iran has enforced a near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz after both Tehran and Washington called an end to a June 17 memorandum of understanding and resumed strikes in the war that began when the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
Resumed strikes have disrupted about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, leading to price increases.
While United States officials, including President Donald Trump, have said that Tehran is keen for a deal to reopen the strait, US officials have repeatedly stated that they would not accept any arrangement for the waterway that would leave Iran in control.
But Ali Akbar Dareini, a Tehran-based researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies, said Iran is aiming to “stabilise” its control over the Strait of Hormuz, which is its “biggest military achievement of the war”.
“Negotiations are aimed at stabilising those achievements,” Dareini told Al Jazeera. “You do not negotiate to give away your achievements, but stabilise them.”
Moreover, Baghaei emphasised that the closure of the waterway was due to “US military aggression and the Zionist regime’s aggression against Iran”.
“Naturally, the understanding between Iran and Oman, in and of itself, cannot be taken to mean that the strait has become secure for transiting vessels, because the factors undermining security in the Strait of Hormuz by the United States, particularly the naval blockade and other aggressive and threatening actions against Iran and its interests, still exist,” Baghaei said.
At the same time, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the military’s operations in the Middle East, said on Wednesday that it had redirected a total of 48 commercial vessels, disabled two and boarded two as part of its blockade of the Iranian navy.