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Oman has drafted a proposal to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz via two separately controlled routes, CNN reported on April 11, citing a source familiar with the talks.
Under the yet-to-be-finalized plan, both corridors would remain open. The “Southern Corridor,” running through Omani territorial waters, would allow “free navigation” under pre-war conditions.
Ships using the “Northern Corridor” through Iranian territorial waters would need “prior approval” from Tehran, though “no tolls” would be charged.
The proposal surfaced as Iran’s foreign minister held talks with Omani and Qatari officials in Muscat, part of a diplomatic push to salvage a fragile arrangement over the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply typically flows.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he and his Omani counterpart had exchanged views on “appropriate mechanisms” for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed by the Islamic Republic and the United States last month.
A day earlier, senior U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington is demanding Iran publicly state it will stop attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and confirm that all lanes will remain open to shipping with no tolls.
“What we’re demanding is that the Iranians issue a public statement that acknowledges all channels of the Strait of Hormuz are open and they’re not shooting at ships anymore,” one official said. “They’re either going to give us that statement or we’re not having a good outcome for them.”
The officials, speaking to a small group of reporters on a conference call, described the talks with Iran in recent days as productive.
Iran has told Washington that the recent attacks on shipping were the work of “an errant part of their system,” one senior official said.
There appears to be a power struggle unfolding in real time between hardliners and pragmatists inside the Iranian government, an official said.
“We are hoping to get to a place where they publicly say that they will stop shooting at ships and sort of explicitly or at least implicitly acknowledging that they screwed up,” the official said. “We are working on that now.”
Iran will not likely approve the Omani proposal, which plays completely in favor of the U.S. The latest report from Reuters suggests that Washington could react militarily if this happens.
All in all, the deal appears to be slowly, but surely, falling apart. Despite initial optimism, the U.S. has so far violated almost every term. On top of that, the two sides seem incapable of agreeing on the most basic of issues. If this continues, another round of clashes could come soon.
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we propose the destruction of both iran and oman…heheheh
demanding= do as we tell or else
fuck that uncle sam mentality.
cia news network. stopped reading there… come on s-f. you are turning into another zerohedge!