Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, announced that Iran and Oman have agreed on a new temporary shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz. The entry of the route will run through Iranian territorial waters, with part of the exit also passing through them. This announcement was made on Tuesday following talks between the top diplomats of both countries in Tehran, aimed at finalizing a phased framework for managing the strait.
The Strait of Hormuz, which previously handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, has seen most shipping activities halted since the onset of the US-Israel conflict with Iran in February. Gharibabadi stated that the new transit corridor would be seven miles (11.3 km) wide and described it as a temporary route.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also met with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in Tehran on the same day to discuss the navigation corridor and a project to clear mines from the strait. Albusaidi expressed hope that the countries would soon announce the corridor and mentioned that future management of the strait would follow.
Technical discussions are planned to establish a long-term arrangement that includes information sharing and navigational and security services. The Strait of Hormuz has become a point of contention following Iran's response to the US-Israel conflict, which included closing the waterway and announcing a new shipping route through its territorial waters, bypassing the internationally recognized Traffic Separation Scheme.
In June, Iran and the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to end the conflict, after which Oman and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced a new transit corridor that was supported by the US. However, Iran claimed this southern route violated the MoU and subsequently attacked ships using it, leading to the collapse of the interim agreement.
Gharibabadi emphasized that the strait would not be considered open despite the agreement with Oman and dismissed claims by US President Donald Trump regarding the clearance of mines in the strait. He stated that US mine-detection vessels would be targeted if they entered the area and insisted that the US must fulfill its commitments under the MoU, including sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian assets, to return to diplomatic negotiations.
He also urged countries to resist US pressure regarding sanctions on Iran, asserting that previous sanctions campaigns had failed and predicting that new measures would similarly not succeed. Gharibabadi remarked, "The new American sanctions are doomed to failure, and we have our own methods to counter them."