President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz could reopen within days, but competing accounts of the emerging arrangement have intensified debate over whether Iran would gain new authority over one of the world’s most important energy routes.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump said a diplomatic agreement to restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz may be announced as early as Wednesday, even as U.S. and Iranian officials offered sharply different descriptions of a proposed arrangement involving Iran and Oman.
Speaking to reporters traveling with him in California on Tuesday evening, Trump said negotiators had moved closer to an accord after months of warfare, shipping attacks and economic disruption.
“It could happen. Tomorrow or the next day,” Trump said. “A lot of progress has been made.”
The possible breakthrough centers on a waterway that carried approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas before the conflict reduced traffic to a fraction of its former level. The prolonged disruption has contributed to higher fuel prices, increased costs for basic goods and wider instability across the global economy.
The United States and Israel began the war on Feb. 28, citing objectives that included ending Iran’s nuclear program and removing Tehran’s government. The conflict later became increasingly focused on the Strait of Hormuz as Iranian threats and attacks against vessels brought most commercial traffic to a halt.
Trump has faced growing pressure to end the war before the midterm congressional elections. His administration has alternated in recent days between warnings of massive military strikes and expressions of support for negotiations.
Optimism surrounding the talks initially pushed oil prices lower before they edged back upward. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded near $80 per barrel Wednesday, remaining well below the levels reached during the height of the conflict.
Washington and Tehran previously reached an agreement in June to reopen the strait, but attacks later resumed.
The latest proposal under discussion would establish separate inbound and outbound shipping corridors, according to two regional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations remain sensitive.
Ships entering the Persian Gulf would use a route controlled by Iran, while vessels leaving would travel through a channel overseen by Oman. The countries would collect service fees for security, environmental protection and staffing, the officials said.
Iranian officials said the payments would not be formal tolls and that the proceeds would be divided equally between Tehran and Muscat. They also described the proposal as temporary, potentially lasting between one and three months while negotiators pursued a broader settlement.
A U.S. official familiar with the discussions rejected that version of the plan, saying temporary shipping lanes would neither require Iranian permission nor include tolls or service charges.
The disagreement has fueled concern that an agreement intended to reopen the waterway could leave Iran with greater influence over Hormuz than it held before the war.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said it will not accept a settlement granting Tehran control over what Washington considers an international waterway.
Trump reinforced that position Monday when reporters asked whether ships could be required to pay Iran.
“I’m not going to let them charge,” Trump said. “Anybody’s going to charge, we’ll charge.”
During a separate White House exchange Monday, Trump indicated that negotiators were approaching a decisive point.
“You’ll find out today or tomorrow,” Trump said. “They’re going to go quickly one way or the other. It’s not very complex.”
Trump said the strait could reopen “literally by tomorrow” and connected the immediate shipping issue to the administration’s larger objective of ending Iran’s nuclear program.
“The first phase is the opening of the straits. The second phase will be the denuclearization,” Trump said.
The developing arrangement reportedly would give Iran and Oman 60 days to negotiate the waterway’s reopening while the United States and Iran resumed discussions concerning Tehran’s nuclear program and its enriched uranium stockpile.
The United States wants Iran to dilute its highly enriched uranium and eventually transfer the material to the United States or another country for disposal or peaceful nuclear use.
Iranian officials have said the strait will remain closed until Washington lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports and both countries return to the 14-point Islamabad memorandum serving as the framework for broader peace talks.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tuesday that Tehran’s negotiations with Oman were directed toward “establishing safe inbound and outbound shipping lanes.”
Baghaei said the routes were intended to “uphold sovereign rights while also addressing the national security considerations of both Iran and Oman.”
“The final results of these negotiations will be announced once concluded,” Baghaei said, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that progress had been made but cautioned that no final agreement was in place.
Rubio has repeatedly insisted that Hormuz must return to its former status as an unrestricted international waterway rather than become a passage controlled by Iran.
“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll and if you don’t pay them blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent,” Rubio said during a recent meeting of Southeast Asian officials.
Rubio has also said freedom of navigation is a central principle of international trade that should not be surrendered during negotiations.
Some Pentagon officials reportedly remain skeptical of the proposal, warning that Tehran could obtain new strategic leverage if commercial vessels are required to coordinate with Iranian authorities while traveling through waters exposed to mines and missile attacks.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said negotiators are making progress while maintaining that the United States opposes any arrangement that would place the strait under permanent Iranian control.
Qatari officials have also reported movement in mediation efforts. Iranian authorities, however, have publicly denied conducting direct talks with Washington and said communications are continuing through intermediaries.
Oman has presented itself as a neutral mediator seeking to uphold freedom of navigation under international law while helping the United States and Iran reach an accord.
Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said Tehran regards influence over the strait as its most important strategic gain from the war and is unlikely to relinquish that position without significant concessions.
“Whatever solution leaves Iran in control of the strait will be a very tough sell for Trump, but there is also no military solution to remove Iran’s control of the strait,” Vaez said. “Trump’s options are between an unwinnable war and an unpalatable peace.”
The continuing danger to commercial vessels was evident Tuesday and Wednesday as attacks persisted in and around the region despite the diplomatic activity.
The Iranian-backed Houthi movement claimed Wednesday that it fired ballistic missiles at the Wafa, a Saudi oil tanker operating in the Red Sea.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said in a prerecorded statement that the tanker was targeted near the Saudi port city of Yanbu. He did not provide evidence, and Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond.
The alleged strike came amid escalating tensions between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia that threatened to revive Yemen’s civil war. The conflict previously placed the Houthis against a Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government.
The Houthis announced in July that they were closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping. The move placed additional strain on global commerce because the Red Sea had become a major alternative route for Saudi oil exports during the war.
An Indian-flagged commercial vessel sank Tuesday in the Red Sea off Yemen after being struck by a boat carrying explosives, according to Yemeni and Indian authorities.
Yemen’s coast guard rescued all 14 crew members, including 13 Indian nationals and one Yemeni. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
A separate cargo vessel reported Tuesday that it had been “hit by an unknown projectile” approximately 37 kilometers, or 23 miles, northeast of the Omani port city of Al Khasab in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center.
Another commercial ship also reported a separate security incident in the region.
Despite the continued violence, Rubio has expressed confidence that the United States and Iran can still reach an agreement restoring shipping through Hormuz.
The negotiations are unfolding alongside renewed international criticism of Iran’s human rights record.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk said Iran has increased its use of executions and death sentences since March and accused authorities of employing capital punishment to frighten the public and suppress opposition.
Türk said at least 56 people have been executed since March 19, including 27 convicted in cases connected to anti-government protests that spread across Iran at the beginning of the year. More than 100 others could face execution on similar charges, he said.
“Persistent lack of fair trial and due process guarantees are deeply troubling,” Türk said.
He alleged that some confessions had been obtained through torture and mistreatment. Türk also said some executions were reportedly conducted publicly, while others occurred only weeks after suspects were arrested.
The Hormuz negotiations could determine whether commercial traffic resumes, whether economic pressure eases and whether the wider war moves closer to a negotiated conclusion. Although Trump has said an announcement may be imminent, major disputes remain over fees, shipping authority, Iran’s ports and Tehran’s nuclear program.
Original article
Comments