WASHINGTON/RIYADH – A US official on Aug 7 reported progress between Iran and Oman that could soon reopen the Strait of Hormuz, potentially restoring oil exports disrupted by the five-month-old US war with Iran.
The official, who declined to be identified, said Washington anticipated an agreement between the two countries, which sit on either side of the strait, to resume normal oil traffic.
A deal between Iran and Oman over control of the strategic waterway is seen as crucial to a wider peace agreement.
“There is progress between Oman and Iran on the strait, and we expect a deal soon,” the official told Reuters on Aug 7.
“Once the deal is announced to restore commercial shipping without impediments, the United States will lift the blockade of Iranian ports,” the official added.
“As always, US actions will continue to be performance-based and tied to Iran’s implementation of its commitments.”
Before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on Feb 28, about one out of every five barrels of oil consumed worldwide transited the strait, but Iran has used the hostilities to justify charging a toll on oil tankers and firing on ships that attempt to cross the strait without permission.
The disruption to oil shipments has caused energy prices to surge and fuelled inflation.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has repeatedly signalled that a deal to open the strait could be close, only for Iran to deny that talks were under way. It was unclear whether the latest flurry of negotiations would yield a more lasting arrangement.
Iranian strikes on Strait of Hormuz shipping have been coupled with increased attacks by its Yemen-based allies, the Houthis, who have targeted ships at another oil chokepoint on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, one of the world’s largest energy producers, said on Aug 7 that 15 of its vessels had been struck in what it called unprovoked attacks while transiting the strait since the start of the conflict. The attacks have killed one crew member and wounded 20 others, it said.
New security pact
Alarmed by a regional conflagration that has brought Iranian missile fire to Gulf oil exporters, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca on Aug 7.
The pact among three US allies with majority Sunni Muslim populations is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all, the countries said in a statement.
Turkey said the agreement was not aimed at any specific country and was purely defensive. But it comes at a time of heightened tensions with Shi’ite-majority Iran.
Meanwhile, the US has been trying to broker an end to fighting on another front of the war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
A Lebanese official said on Aug 7 that Lebanon and Israel agreed on a shortlist of countries that could send troops to verify the disarmament of Hezbollah under a US-brokered agreement. The US would pick countries from the list.
Iran’s President defends diplomacy
Washington and Tehran have not engaged in direct high-level talks since US Vice-President J.D. Vance met Iranian officials in Switzerland in June, shortly after the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement. The short-lived June 17 memorandum of understanding established terms for resuming Strait of Hormuz oil shipping and led to a ceasefire.
Amid internal opposition to the deal in the US and Iran, hostilities resumed on July 7, only to be put on hold again. The US military’s Central Command has not reported any strikes on Iran since July 29.
Analysts have said signs of fissures between Iran’s civilian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the other power centres in Iran, notably the supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, may be complicating peace efforts.
In an interview with state television broadcast on Aug 7, Pezeshkian defended his government’s policies against hardliners who opposed negotiations with the US. He insisted that most senior military commanders supported talks towards a deal to stop the fighting.
He said: “America’s biggest enemy is China, why don’t they fight? China is doing its own thing and is getting stronger day by day. When we can get our rights through dialogue, why not do it?” REUTERS
