Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi greets Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in Tehran.

Omani Foreign Ministry

Composite story

Iran and Oman agree a temporary Hormuz shipping corridor; Tehran says the strait is still closed

After Tuesday talks in Tehran, Iran’s deputy foreign minister described a temporary seven-mile transit route with Oman. He insisted the Strait of Hormuz remains militarily closed until Washington meets commitments under a lapsed June deal.

Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers met in Tehran on Tuesday on a phased framework for a temporary joint shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz and a mine-clearing project. Iran’s deputy foreign minister said the route would be about seven miles wide, with inbound traffic through Iranian waters. Tehran says the waterway remains militarily closed, with no military vessels allowed, until the United States meets conditions from a June memorandum that has since lapsed. A Reuters Iranian source said a deal had not been finalized. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said he hoped a corridor would be announced soon.

Shared facts

Iran’s deputy foreign minister said the understanding with Oman does not mean the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.

A joint statement said they discussed a phased framework that could provide a practical basis for moving forward.

Gharibabadi said the United States must fully implement all the commitments it has breached before Hormuz reopens.

Oil prices dipped after Iran and Oman said they had advanced talks on a temporary Hormuz shipping lane and mine-clearing.

The Guards said they had agreed with Oman to share revenues from any fees in the strait, an idea Washington rejects.

Qatar and Pakistan have helped steer ceasefire talks in the war the United States and Israel launched on February 28.

An unnamed tanker was struck in the engine room and disabled overnight Monday.

About a fifth of the world’s oil and gas was shipped through the strait before the war.

He said Hormuz will only reopen in exchange for ending the war on all fronts, lifting the blockade, and resolving Yemen.

The talks included coordinating mine-clearing efforts.

A Pakistan-mediated US-Iran memorandum in mid-June provided for reopening Hormuz.

He said they will announce a system to restore safe navigation shortly.

Gharibabadi said ships entering the Gulf would pass through Iranian waters.

He said if the understanding becomes binding, no military vessel at all will be permitted to pass.

Shipping has been paralysed by Tehran since US-Israeli attacks started the war in late February.

He said ships leaving would use Omani waters.

Iran and Oman have held on-and-off talks for weeks about controlling traffic through the strait.

A US naval blockade to stop Iran from shipping oil remains in place.

He said the corridor would function like a two-way highway about seven miles wide.

Mohebbi said they have been in negotiations with Oman for about a month and reached results acceptable to both sides.

He said the long-term plan is a permanent arrangement for control of the strait with other regional stakeholders.

Gharibabadi said the route was temporary.

Last week Trump threatened to bomb Oman in response to that fee proposal, two officials told AP.

He said if the plan is agreed the two would have 30 to 60 days to hammer out a permanent route.

Oman previously proposed service fees on passing traffic, demanded by Iran and opposed by the United States and shipping interests.

Tehran links full reopening to lifting US sanctions, compensation for war damage, and security guarantees.

The IRGC accused the United States of obstructing Iran’s talks with Oman and delaying an agreement.

He said the Revolutionary Guards were involved and the maps were drawn up by the armed forces.

It was not immediately clear how the tentative agreement would work.

Active hostilities have largely subsided while diplomatic efforts have stalled, and attacks still make Hormuz passage perilous.

He asked why no vessel is passing through the strait if the mines have been cleared.

Hassan Ghashghavi said fees would be charged for navigation, environmental, insurance, safety, and other services.

He threatened financial penalties on countries that trade with Iran or help it evade US sanctions.

Washington has not responded to the Iran-Oman joint statement.

Disputed facts

Oman’s foreign minister said Tuesday talks with Iran on joint management of a Hormuz shipping corridor were proceeding well.

Shared opinions

He said conditions had changed and any future talks with the United States would not be like the past.

Disputed opinions

None yet.

Al Jazeera

Iran, Oman agree on temporary Hormuz route: What we know

Sarah Shamim

26 Aug 2026

Facts

The closure has sent global energy markets into crisis.

The US-Israel war on Iran, which began with strikes on Tehran on February 28, has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, sending global energy markets into crisis.

The war and ensuing regional tensions resulted in global energy shortages, especially in Asia where countries are particularly dependent on shipments from the Gulf, and crude prices soared.

fact

Iran closed the strait in early March, allowing only a few ships it deemed friendly to pass.

Since the US bombing of parts of Iran in July, Iran has refused to hold direct talks with Washington.

Since the US bombing of parts of Iran in July following more disputes over the strait, Iran has refused to hold direct talks with it.

Even though active warfare has since paused again – replaced by a strategy of piling economic pressure on Iran – it has maintained that it will speak directly to only Oman about the future of the waterway, which passes through the territorial waters of the two countries.

fact

In April the IRGC issued a route map to ships allowed to pass.

Active warfare has paused, replaced by economic pressure on Iran.

The US has accused Iran of placing mines in the strait.

The US has previously accused Iran of placing mines in the strait.

While Iran has not confirmed this, it stated at the time that following its designated route would minimise the risk of encountering them.

The US has long accused Iran of planting sea mines – explosives planted underwater to threaten commercial and military ships – in the Strait of Hormuz.

Sea mines can include moored contact mines that detonate when a vessel strikes them, while more sophisticated “bottom mines” sit on the seabed and use sensors to trigger an explosion when they detect a ship’s magnetic or acoustic signature above.

fact

Iran agreed to keep the strait open for all traffic, free of charge, for 60 days.

The waterway fractured into a southern Oman/US-backed route and a northern Iran-approved route.

About 130 ships crossed the strait every day.

The southern route is used by commercial carriers under US naval protection.

Just before the war, Brent crude was about $66 a barrel.

Oil surged past $100 on several occasions, most recently on July 23.

Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said vessels will be under Iranian surveillance and may pass only with Iranian permission.

Iranian army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said vessels will be subject to Iranian surveillance before they enter the strait and will only be allowed to pass if Iran grants them permission.

attribution · Mohammad Akraminia

His remarks followed talks with Omani negotiators in Tehran on a phased framework for managing the strait.

Gharibabadi’s remarks followed talks with Omani negotiators in Tehran to finalise the details of a phased framework for the future management of the strait.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Omani counterpart, Badr Albusaidi, in Tehran to discuss the temporary navigation corridor as well as a project to clear mines, according to a joint statement.

fact

Oman has not publicly said it intends to join Iran in controlling the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump announced what he called the most crushing economic operation ever against Iran and threatened sanctions on countries doing business with it.

On Monday Bessent announced new sanctions against 60 entities accused of facilitating Iranian oil sales.

Technical talks are planned on a long-term arrangement, including information sharing and navigational and security services.

Under international law, tolls for passing through natural waterways such as Hormuz are forbidden.

He warned that US mine-detection vessels would become very good targets if they entered the area.

Trump asserted that US forces destroyed all 28 Iranian mine-laying boats in the strait’s international waters.

The US and Oman are close partners with a relationship stretching back nearly 200 years.

Opinion

He urged countries to resist US pressure to squeeze Iran economically.

He urged countries to resist US pressure to place economic pressure on Iran.

“We are urging countries not to succumb to American pressure regarding the sanctions that Washington wants to impose on us,” Gharibabadi said, adding that Washington was “mistaken about its ability to enforce its sanctions against our neighbours”.

attribution · Kazem Gharibabadi

An exclusive Iran-Oman understanding runs contrary to Washington’s demand that Iran relinquish control of the strait.

However, an exclusive understanding between Iran and Oman over the waterway runs contrary to one of Washington’s core demands: that Iran should relinquish control of the strait as a condition of ending the war.

center · authoritarian

Analysts say such a deal would lend Iran’s position greater legitimacy by formalising it.

Laleh Khalili said an Oman-Iran solution without US intervention would show how impotent the United States is.

“In part, a solution mediated without US intervention and which in fact allows Oman and Iran to manage passage through Hormuz, which lies entirely within the two countries’ territorial waters, would show how impotent the United States is and has been,” Laleh Khalili, a professor of Gulf studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, told Al Jazeera last week.

attribution · Laleh Khalili

Experts say Trump is likely angry that the US has been cut out of a deal relating to the strait.

Gharibabadi dismissed Trump’s mine-clearance claim as only aimed at calming the markets.

Reuters

Iran and Oman still working on Strait of Hormuz accord, says senior Iranian source

Aidan Lewis and Gareth Jones

26 Aug 2026

Facts

Mohebbi said if the United States stops obstructing and accepts Iran’s conditions the strait can open; otherwise it will not open.

"If the United States stops obstructing and returns to the agreement, we can open the Strait of Hormuz within the framework of the agreement reached ... If the United States does not accept our conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened under any circumstances," Mohebbi said.

attribution · Hossein Mohebbi

Iran had said earlier this month that a deal on the strait was close.

Iran announced a blacklist of 45 ships aimed at stopping ship-to-ship transfers used to evade its blockade.

Iran announced a blacklist on Sunday of 45 ships in an apparent effort to stop ship-to-ship transfers used by Gulf energy producers to evade the Iranian blockade.

Some companies plan to stop using vessels added to the blacklist, sources said.

fact

In a UN letter Araghchi said new U.S. sanctions imposed collective punishment by denying food and medicine.

In a letter to the United Nations published on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi again denounced the new U.S. sanctions, saying they imposed collective punishment by denying Iranians access to food, medicine and other necessities.

attribution · Abbas Araqchi

Rubio told allies the U.S. did not expect to launch new strikes against Iran for now, Axios reported.

Thousands have died in the conflict, most of them in Iran and Lebanon.

U.S. public approval of the war and Trump’s popularity are at record lows ahead of November elections, Reuters/Ipsos polling showed.

U.S. public approval of the war has fallen to its lowest level since the conflict's early days, and Trump's popularity is likewise at a record low ahead of congressional elections in November, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

attribution · Reuters/Ipsos polling

The exact state of Iran’s nuclear program remains unknown.

Opinion

Hossein Mohebbi said the Strait of Hormuz belongs to Iran and Oman.

"The Strait of Hormuz belongs to Iran and the country of Oman... We have been in negotiations with Oman for about a month, and we have reached results that are acceptable to both sides," Hossein Mohebbi said in comments published by Iranian state media.

attribution · Hossein Mohebbi

Iran denounced the U.S. isolation effort as gross lawlessness.

Araghchi wrote that states must defend sovereign equality or surrender to a rogue state’s unilateralism.

Mehr News Agency

Deputy FM sheds light on Iran-Oman deal on Strait of Hormuz

Mehr News Agency

26 Aug 2026

Facts

He said the waterway remains militarily closed.

TEHRAN, Aug. 26 (MNA) – Iran's deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that the understanding reached with Oman does not mean the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and that the waterway remains "militarily closed."

"From a military standpoint, the Strait of Hormuz is closed," he said.

attribution · Kazem Gharibabadi

Gharibabadi told state television that Iran remains in a state of war.

He said the strait had become a national-security matter requiring basic changes in entry and exit routes.

In both directions, ships will transit through Iranian waters.

He said ships had passed through Omani waters for 58 years, causing severe damage to Iran.

He said talks ran through a joint working group including the foreign ministry, ports organization, IRGC navy, and General Staff.

Gharibabadi said the negotiations with Oman took place through a joint working group that included the foreign ministry, the ports and maritime organisation, the IRGC and its navy force, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

attribution · Kazem Gharibabadi

Gharibabadi said Iran told Pakistan’s army chief it does not trust America and did not violate the Islamabad MoU.

Regarding Pakistan's army chief, who visited Tehran this week, Gharibabadi said, "We told him we do not trust America. It was not the Islamic Republic of Iran that violated the Islamabad MoU. America has not been honest in talks and has proven it does not abide by its commitments. If the Americans want nothing to happen in the Strait of Hormuz and want action toward its reopening, they must implement Iran's conditions in the agreement."

attribution · Kazem Gharibabadi

Opinion

He said Iran could carry out preemptive actions to defend its national security.

He also said Iran could carry out preemptive actions to defend its national security.

"Why must we always wait for America to attack us so that we defend ourselves? If we do not see conditions as appropriate, why should we not take actions against American interests? These are now within the framework of the Islamic Republic's policy," he said.

attribution · Kazem Gharibabadi

AFP

Iran-Oman talks on Strait of Hormuz: What we know

AFP

26 Aug 2026

Facts

That deal has since fallen apart.

The deal left Tehran and Muscat to define future administration and maritime services in the waterway.

A Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding signed between the US and Iran in mid-June provided for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and left it up to Tehran and Muscat “to define the future administration and maritime services” in the waterway, in discussion with Gulf states and in line with international law.

fact

Trump has asserted the strait is under US control, a claim Tehran denies.

Experts say the talks are slow because they cover sovereignty, vessel control, fees, and international law.

By calling for other Gulf coastal states to join talks, Muscat is trying to avoid the look of a one-on-one deal with Tehran.

Opinion

Abdallah Baaboud said Oman and Iran are negotiating post-war governance and security architecture for Hormuz.

Baaboud said Oman wants to separate freedom of navigation from the wider conflict, and that differing strategies are the real source of delay.

Oman, for its part, is seeking to “separate freedom of navigation as much as possible from the wider conflict”, with the two nations’ different strategies “the real source of the delay”, said Baaboud.

attribution · Abdallah Baaboud

Muscat is trying to remain an intermediary without appearing to back Iranian control of Hormuz shipping.

That has put Muscat in the awkward position of trying to maintain its role as an intermediary to Tehran, without giving the impression of full support for Iranian control over Hormuz shipping for fear of risking its strategic relationship with Washington.

“Washington may be uncomfortable with aspects of Oman’s diplomacy, but it also needs the channel Oman provides,” said Baaboud.

center · pluralist

The aim would be a regional understanding guaranteeing freedom of navigation collectively.

The aim would be to achieve “a regional understanding in which freedom of navigation is guaranteed collectively”, rather than relying on a permanent US military presence or Iran’s ability to control the strait on its own.

“That would be a very Omani outcome,” he said. “Not a grand peace settlement, but a practical arrangement that removes reasons for confrontation and opens space for wider diplomacy.”

attribution · Abdallah Baaboud

The Irish Times

Iran and Oman discuss temporary Strait of Hormuz corridor as impasse with US drags on

Lara Jakes

26 Aug 2026

Facts

Only five vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to Kpler.

Araghchi spoke Tuesday with Qatar’s prime minister and Pakistan’s army chief, Iranian state media said.

On Monday Bessent announced what he called an economic D-Day against Iran.

The measures depend largely on China, which purchased more than 80 percent of Iran’s oil exports in 2025.

Beijing pushed back, warning it would defend its interests and accusing the United States of disrupting the global financial order.

And Beijing has pushed back against Bessent’s campaign, warning that China would defend its interests and accusing the United States of disrupting the global financial order.

Iran quickly seized on China’s dissent, announcing on Tuesday that top diplomats in Tehran, the Iranian capital, were discussing how to deepen and expand cooperation with Beijing, according to Iranian state media.

fact

Opinion

Araghchi wrote that Iran’s commitment to peace is matched by steadfast diplomacy with its neighbors.

The paper said the US strategy aims to weaken Iran so drastically that Tehran must accept Washington’s terms.

The Maritime Executive

Oman Signals Progress on Hormuz Shipping Corridor Agreement

The Maritime Executive

25 Aug 2026

Facts

Albusaidi said the two sides are nearing an agreement on one temporary shipping corridor, not the two-corridor scheme.

The two sides are nearing an agreement on one temporary shipping corridor - not the contested two-corridor scheme that currently prevails - and will be announcing a system to restore "safe navigation" shortly, Albusaidi said.

attribution · Badr Albusaidi

Albusaidi said he visited Tehran for a constructive dialogue with Araghchi.

On Sunday Iran’s parliament foreign-policy committee moved ahead with regulations to charge service fees for transits.

US Central Command has set up a transit corridor through Omani waters that has shielded tanker transits.

Iran remains clear on its long-term intentions for control of Hormuz.

Independent analysts estimate about 4 to 6 million barrels per day of crude have been escaping Iran’s cordon.

Claims over the size of convoys vary, but most independent analysts estimate that an average of about 4-6 million barrels per day of crude have been escaping Iran's cordon - and the latest indications (and administration claims) suggest that the volumes are increasing.

attribution · independent analysts

A US Central Command advisory still warned of drifting or uncharted mines near the traffic separation scheme.

However, US Central Command's latest advisory from the Joint Maritime Information Center suggests "a continued risk of drifting or uncharted mines in and near the TSS, with mine danger areas still active."

attribution · US Central Command

On Tuesday Trump claimed Iran’s sea mines have been cleared from the central transit lanes.

Opinion

Maritime Executive said a fee arrangement hinges on Iran’s ability to control the waterway by force.

The White House says Iran’s influence on traffic volume is limited.