Iran has said it has reached an agreement with Oman on the details of a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, in the clearest signal yet from Tehran that a diplomatic push to reopen the vital waterway is making progress.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Wednesday that Tehran and Muscat had agreed on the geographical co-ordinates of a navigable channel, adding that a joint statement on a provisional arrangement was “in the final stages”.
But he cautioned that any new agreement would not by itself ensure ships’ safe passage through the strait as long as the US maintained a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Reopening the strait has become US president Donald Trump’s prime goal after more than five months of war with Iran, as he looks to bring down high fuel prices in advance of November’s midterm elections.
Trump said on Tuesday that “a lot of progress has been made” and that a deal could be reached on Wednesday or Thursday.
Diplomats hope a deal between Iran and Oman would help revive a June 17th memorandum signed by Tehran and the Trump administration meant to extend an earlier ceasefire and gradually allow shipping through the strait to return to its pre-war levels.
But with Tehran regarding the strait as its main source of leverage over the US, the waterway has become the main battleground between the warring parties.
Strait of Hormuz. Map: Paul Scott/Irish Times
Having closed the strait after the US and Israel launched their war in February, Iran is determined to retain a degree of control over the chokepoint through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed before the conflict.
Disputes over which routes ships should transit through the narrow waterway triggered an escalatory spiral of tit-for-tat strikes between the US and Iran and caused the June MoU to collapse.
The MoU was supposed to lay the foundations for talks on a final settlement to end the war, including a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme.
In the weeks since that interim deal collapsed, Tehran and Muscat have been holding talks to agree on a channel that was acceptable to all sides.
Mediators have previously hoped the negotiations were about to make a breakthrough, only for the process to hit a setback.
People briefed on the negotiations said on Tuesday that Iran’s top leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, had still to approve the deal.
Shia Muslim devotees walk past a banner calling for revenge against US president Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu during a mourning procession in Tehran on August 4th. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images
Under the new Iran-Oman arrangement, vessels would enter the strait through Iranian waters and leave through mostly Omani waters, two people briefed on the talks said.
Initially, Iran would send ships, including oil tankers, through the waterway to ensure it is free of mines before the strait opens to other shipping, one of the people said.
Ships would not be charged fees during the temporary arrangement, the people added.
If a deal holds and the strait reopens, the US would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and reinstate a waiver to allow Iran to sell oil and petroleum-related products, one of the people said.
But analysts caution that any deal between the foes would be precarious given the distrust between the parties, Trump’s unpredictability and the defiant mood of the Islamic regime, which believes it has the upper hand.
The strait was the prime trigger for recent hostilities, with Iran attacking ships that transited the chokepoint along Oman’s coastline. Tehran said the ships were using an “unauthorised” channel.
The US responded by striking Iran, which prompted Iranian forces to retaliate by firing missiles and drones at bases across the region used by American forces.
The hostilities set off the most intense tit-for-tat attacks since the truce was signed in April, stoking fears in the region of a return to full-blown war.
Iran’s closure of the strait has put a chokehold on oil and gas exports from the region, as well as other commodities including fertiliser feedstocks, helium and petrochemicals.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026