Diplomatic contacts on a temporary corridor
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone on Friday to address ongoing disruptions to navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. According to a report carried by Daily Sabah citing the state-run Oman News Agency, the two diplomats discussed “practical understandings” aimed at ensuring the free and uninterrupted flow of maritime traffic through the waterway. They also examined ways to create conditions conducive to resuming dialogue, with the goal of narrowing differences and reaching peaceful solutions while taking the interests of all parties into account.
Daily Sabah further reported that in early August Tehran announced it had reached an understanding with Muscat on the geographic coordinates of a proposed maritime corridor for commercial vessels. Iran’s foreign ministry indicated at the time that the two sides had agreed on the corridor’s geographic criteria, though a joint statement outlining the main points of agreement remained to be finalized.
On Sunday, Araghchi publicly confirmed that Tehran and Muscat were working to establish a temporary maritime route. As reported by Middle East Eye, he stated that the routes that existed previously are no longer functional, so a new route needs to be defined. Negotiations with Oman were continuing, he said, adding that the sides may reach an outcome soon. Araghchi emphasized that these negotiations and any decision on reopening the Strait of Hormuz are two separate issues. Once a temporary route is determined, he said, whether the strait will be reopened will depend on the fulfilment of other conditions to which the United States must adhere.
Shipping volumes remain deeply depressed
Traffic through the strait has stayed far below prewar levels. Daily Sabah reported that on Friday the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said volumes stood about 90 percent below prewar levels. In mid-August the same monitoring body had reported that maritime traffic had recovered only to 17 percent of its prewar average after falling to 4 percent the previous week. Middle East Eye cited a Reuters observation that only two vessels passed through the strait on the day in question, with no visible crude-oil shipments. The waterway normally carries about 25 percent of global seaborne oil trade, according to the same reporting.
Background to the closure and earlier diplomacy
Middle East Eye reported that Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz on 28 February following joint military strikes by the United States and Israel. Daily Sabah similarly located the start of the conflict in late February with a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. In June, Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding that called for a cessation of hostilities and the restoration of shipping through the strait. That understanding later collapsed amid disputes over implementation, Daily Sabah reported.
Competing claims over control of the waterway
The diplomatic effort between Iran and Oman has unfolded against sharpened rhetoric from Washington. Middle East Eye reported that U.S. President Donald Trump said he would designate the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States “pretty soon.” Speaking at a police academy in New York on Friday, Trump stated: “We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.” He linked the move to what he described as the ongoing defeat of Iran.
Iranian officials rejected any notion of external seizure. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech. He added that the strait has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian. Iranian army chief Amir Hatami warned that Washington would regret any attempt to take control of the waterway, according to Iranian state media cited by Middle East Eye. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei posted a quotation from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov on the platform X in apparent response to the U.S. statements.
Perspectives
Iranian officials present the temporary-route talks with Oman as a technical necessity created by the unusability of previous passages, while insisting that any full reopening remains conditional on U.S. adherence to unspecified requirements. They uniformly reject the possibility of the strait being claimed or controlled by the United States, describing it as permanently Iranian. President Trump, by contrast, has framed the waterway as subject to an existing U.S. blockade and has announced an intention to declare it American territory in the near term, tying the step to the military campaign against Iran.