{"id":627630,"date":"2026-08-08T20:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/627630\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:50:15","slug":"iran-says-strait-of-hormuz-deal-is-very-close-but-will-not-free-up-waterway-by-itself-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/627630\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran says Strait of Hormuz deal is \u2018very close\u2019 but will not free up waterway by itself \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran<\/a> said on Saturday that a deal with Oman<\/a> on control of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> was close but would not be enough to \u200cfree up the waterway, and the United Arab Emirates<\/a> (UAE) said Iran had hit another ship there.<\/p>\n

A US<\/a> official, who declined to be identified, said on Friday that Washington anticipated an agreement soon between Iran and Oman, which sit on either side \u200bof the strait, so that normal oil<\/a> traffic could resume.<\/p>\n

Agreement between the two countries over control of the strategic waterway is seen as crucial to a wider agreement to end the conflict that began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28th.<\/p>\n

Iranian foreign minister Abbas \u200bAraqchi said Iran and Oman were \u201cvery close\u201d to agreement on a new shipping route through the strait but that reopening it depended on other conditions, including US compensation to Iran. <\/p>\n

The secretary of Iran\u2019s top national security body, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, listed other demands including ending \u2060US threats against Iran, stopping aggression against Iran and its Lebanese<\/a>, Palestinian<\/a>, Yemeni<\/a> and Iraqi<\/a> allies, lifting a blockade and sanctions on Iran and freeing Iranian assets. <\/p>\n

Oman \u200bcondemned what it described as repeated attacks on vessels while transiting the strait, without assigning blame and said that negotiations with Iran on arrangements for shipping through Hormuz were \u201cpositive and constructive\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cOman stresses the importance of avoiding any actions that could affect these negotiations and the progress achieved in a manner that takes into account \u2060the interests of all parties,\u201d the foreign ministry said.<\/p>\n

Araqchi said the previous shipping traffic separation \u200bscheme through the strait was no longer acceptable to Tehran and that Iran was discussing a temporary \u200broute with Oman while technical and legal issues surrounding a permanent route were resolved. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s president Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, said he believed now was the best time for an agreement. \u201cThere is cohesion, strength, and unity \u200cin the country, and as far as I know, Iran is considered victorious \u200band powerful in this war,\u201d Iranian news agencies quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n

Iran has responded to the \u2060US attacks by targeting US bases in Gulf states and Jordan and shipping in the narrow strait, which carried a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and gas shipments before the \u200cwar.<\/p>\n

\"StraitStrait of Hormuz. Map: Paul Scott\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

The \u200cUAE \u200bsaid on Saturday that Iran had attacked a carrier affiliated with its state oil company with a missile as it transited the Strait of Hormuz, with no injuries reported, in the latest escalation in attacks on shipping there.<\/p>\n

The UK maritime trade monitor said a vessel had caught fire after being hit by an unknown projectile but the fire was put out and there was no reported environmental impact. There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities.<\/p>\n

Iranian media quoted the \u2060UAE report without including the part in which the country blamed Iran for the \u200battack.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the Trump \u200badministration<\/a> has repeatedly signalled that a deal to open the strait could be close, only to have Iran deny that talks are under way. It was unclear whether the latest flurry of negotiations would \u200cyield a more lasting arrangement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is progress between Oman and Iran on \u200bthe strait, and we expect a deal soon,\u201d a US official told Reuters on Friday. \u201cOnce the deal is announced to restore commercial shipping without impediments, the United States will lift the \u2060blockade of Iranian ports.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey sign Nato-style defence pactOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cAs always, US actions will continue to be performance-based and tied \u2060to Iran\u2019s implementation of its commitments,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s \u200bRevolutionary Guards also said on Saturday that reopening the Strait of Hormuz depended on Washington accepting Iran\u2019s conditions and was not related to the Iran-Oman negotiations.<\/p>\n

Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebbi did not specify the conditions but said Washington must stop interfering in the regional negotiation process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever the United States accepts Iran\u2019s conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be reopened,\u201d he said, according to Iran\u2019s Tasnim news agency.<\/p>\n

A proposed deal between Iran and Oman to help end five months of war between Iran and the US would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the strait, a senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters on Wednesday, one of the biggest concessions yet to Iran.<\/p>\n

\"AA delivery person rides a motorcycle near an image of Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei at Valiasr Square in central Tehran on Saturday. Photograph: Atta Kenare\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

US officials have repeatedly insisted they would never agree to Iran controlling access to the world\u2019s most important trade route for energy supplies. \u200cIt was not clear whether they had sought \u2060to change the parameters of the deal.<\/p>\n

Iran has used the hostilities to justify charging a toll on oil tankers. That, and the firing on ships that attempt to cross the strait without its permission, has badly disrupted global shipments, causing energy prices to surge and fuelling inflation. <\/p>\n

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, one of the world\u2019s \u200clargest energy producers, said on Friday that 15 of its vessels had been struck in what it called unprovoked attacks while transiting the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the conflict. <\/p>\n

The attacks have killed one crew member and \u200bwounded 20 others, it said. Iranian media often report attacks on ships saying they violated Iran\u2019s directives, without specifying that Iran was behind \u200bthe attacks.<\/p>\n

Iranian strikes on Strait of Hormuz shipping have been coupled with increased attacks by its Yemen-based allies, the Houthis<\/a>, who have targeted ships at another oil chokepoint on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran said on Saturday that a deal with Oman on control of the Strait of Hormuz was close…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,168745,18929,40488,71,8628,11,12,14407,15,16,5,9951,3037,72,168834,7,8,6221,389,384,65,66,67,9586],"class_list":["post-627630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-houthi","tag-iran","tag-iraq","tag-israel","tag-jordan","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-lebanon","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-oil","tag-oman","tag-palestine","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-trump-presidency","tag-united-arab-emirates","tag-united-states","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews","tag-yemen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117061866997565921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}