Iran, Oman near Hormuz shipping deal as US-Iran talks miss deadline
Iran said it is close to a joint statement with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The move could help reopen a critical oil route even as US-Iran strains, Gaza diplomacy and Iraq tensions deepen.
Iran said on Monday that it was close to finalising a joint statement with Oman on a plan to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a move that is central to efforts to reopen the vital waterway. The update came as the 60-day period for negotiations between the US and Iran to end the war expired without any word on an extension.
At the same time, President Donald Trump again threatened Oman, while developments elsewhere in the region gathered pace. Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a US-backed Gaza road map, and in northern Iraq, two officials were targeted in drone attacks that authorities said were launched from the border with Iran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that Iran and Oman had reached agreement on a plan for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz and were working to complete the details of a joint statement. "An understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route," he said.
Baghaei did not give further details, but information that had emerged earlier suggested the arrangement would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and leaving through a route close to Oman. During an interim period, ships would pass without paying fees or tolls. The US has been seeking an acceptable agreement on reopening the strait before ending its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran effectively closed the strait after Israel and the US attacked the country on February 28. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil supplies passed through the waterway. Baghaei said the talks with Oman had moved slowly, but added: "We had planned, and still plan, to finalise the understanding in the form of a package: the map plus a joint statement."
Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst that the US would bomb Oman if it "gets in the way", according to the reporter. Fox News did not provide audio of the interview. It was not the first such threat. In May, Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting: "Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up." Yingst also said Trump described the expiry of the 60-day deadline for talks as irrelevant, said there was no timeline, and said the US had a back channel for talks with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
On Gaza, Kushner met Netanyahu a day after holding two-hour talks in Egypt with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya on disarmament. Netanyahu last week rejected a 15-point, US-backed road map aimed at moving the ceasefire forward. Hamas has said it agreed to the road map, which includes disarmament, and is urging mediators and the US-created Board of Peace to "compel" Israel to sign it. Israel has said Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli troops currently occupy about 60 per cent of the strip, and Netanyahu has earlier threatened to push further.
In northern Iraq, two officials were targeted in drone attacks that the regional counterterrorism service said were launched from the border with Iran. One drone was aimed at the office of Masoud Barzani, and the other targeted the home of a top regional intelligence official. There were no casualties, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Since the start of the US-Iran war, Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militant groups have carried out regular attacks on US military and diplomatic facilities in Iraq and on bases of exiled Iranian Kurdish dissident groups, but the direct targeting of regional government buildings on Monday was unusual.
Barzani said on X that the attack was "a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan Region." US forces stationed in Iraq's Kurdish region have started withdrawing before a September 30 deadline agreed between Washington and Baghdad to end the US military presence in Iraq. Taken together, Monday's developments showed movement on shipping talks in the Strait of Hormuz, continued strain in US-Iran contacts, and fresh tensions in Gaza and Iraq.
With PTI Inputs
Iran said on Monday that it was close to finalising a joint statement with Oman on a plan to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a move that is central to efforts to reopen the vital waterway. The update came as the 60-day period for negotiations between the US and Iran to end the war expired without any word on an extension.
At the same time, President Donald Trump again threatened Oman, while developments elsewhere in the region gathered pace. Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a US-backed Gaza road map, and in northern Iraq, two officials were targeted in drone attacks that authorities said were launched from the border with Iran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that Iran and Oman had reached agreement on a plan for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz and were working to complete the details of a joint statement. "An understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route," he said.
Baghaei did not give further details, but information that had emerged earlier suggested the arrangement would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and leaving through a route close to Oman. During an interim period, ships would pass without paying fees or tolls. The US has been seeking an acceptable agreement on reopening the strait before ending its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran effectively closed the strait after Israel and the US attacked the country on February 28. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil supplies passed through the waterway. Baghaei said the talks with Oman had moved slowly, but added: "We had planned, and still plan, to finalise the understanding in the form of a package: the map plus a joint statement."
Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst that the US would bomb Oman if it "gets in the way", according to the reporter. Fox News did not provide audio of the interview. It was not the first such threat. In May, Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting: "Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up." Yingst also said Trump described the expiry of the 60-day deadline for talks as irrelevant, said there was no timeline, and said the US had a back channel for talks with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
On Gaza, Kushner met Netanyahu a day after holding two-hour talks in Egypt with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya on disarmament. Netanyahu last week rejected a 15-point, US-backed road map aimed at moving the ceasefire forward. Hamas has said it agreed to the road map, which includes disarmament, and is urging mediators and the US-created Board of Peace to "compel" Israel to sign it. Israel has said Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli troops currently occupy about 60 per cent of the strip, and Netanyahu has earlier threatened to push further.
In northern Iraq, two officials were targeted in drone attacks that the regional counterterrorism service said were launched from the border with Iran. One drone was aimed at the office of Masoud Barzani, and the other targeted the home of a top regional intelligence official. There were no casualties, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Since the start of the US-Iran war, Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militant groups have carried out regular attacks on US military and diplomatic facilities in Iraq and on bases of exiled Iranian Kurdish dissident groups, but the direct targeting of regional government buildings on Monday was unusual.
Barzani said on X that the attack was "a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan Region." US forces stationed in Iraq's Kurdish region have started withdrawing before a September 30 deadline agreed between Washington and Baghdad to end the US military presence in Iraq. Taken together, Monday's developments showed movement on shipping talks in the Strait of Hormuz, continued strain in US-Iran contacts, and fresh tensions in Gaza and Iraq.
With PTI Inputs
Iran said on Monday that it was close to finalising a joint statement with Oman on a plan to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a move that is central to efforts to reopen the vital waterway. The update came as the 60-day period for negotiations between the US and Iran to end the war expired without any word on an extension.
At the same time, President Donald Trump again threatened Oman, while developments elsewhere in the region gathered pace. Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a US-backed Gaza road map, and in northern Iraq, two officials were targeted in drone attacks that authorities said were launched from the border with Iran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that Iran and Oman had reached agreement on a plan for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz and were working to complete the details of a joint statement. "An understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route," he said.
Baghaei did not give further details, but information that had emerged earlier suggested the arrangement would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and leaving through a route close to Oman. During an interim period, ships would pass without paying fees or tolls. The US has been seeking an acceptable agreement on reopening the strait before ending its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran effectively closed the strait after Israel and the US attacked the country on February 28. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil supplies passed through the waterway. Baghaei said the talks with Oman had moved slowly, but added: "We had planned, and still plan, to finalise the understanding in the form of a package: the map plus a joint statement."
Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst that the US would bomb Oman if it "gets in the way", according to the reporter. Fox News did not provide audio of the interview. It was not the first such threat. In May, Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting: "Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up." Yingst also said Trump described the expiry of the 60-day deadline for talks as irrelevant, said there was no timeline, and said the US had a back channel for talks with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
On Gaza, Kushner met Netanyahu a day after holding two-hour talks in Egypt with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya on disarmament. Netanyahu last week rejected a 15-point, US-backed road map aimed at moving the ceasefire forward. Hamas has said it agreed to the road map, which includes disarmament, and is urging mediators and the US-created Board of Peace to "compel" Israel to sign it. Israel has said Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israeli troops currently occupy about 60 per cent of the strip, and Netanyahu has earlier threatened to push further.
In northern Iraq, two officials were targeted in drone attacks that the regional counterterrorism service said were launched from the border with Iran. One drone was aimed at the office of Masoud Barzani, and the other targeted the home of a top regional intelligence official. There were no casualties, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Since the start of the US-Iran war, Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militant groups have carried out regular attacks on US military and diplomatic facilities in Iraq and on bases of exiled Iranian Kurdish dissident groups, but the direct targeting of regional government buildings on Monday was unusual.
Barzani said on X that the attack was "a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan Region." US forces stationed in Iraq's Kurdish region have started withdrawing before a September 30 deadline agreed between Washington and Baghdad to end the US military presence in Iraq. Taken together, Monday's developments showed movement on shipping talks in the Strait of Hormuz, continued strain in US-Iran contacts, and fresh tensions in Gaza and Iraq.
With PTI Inputs
