Oman top diplomat to visit Iran to discuss Hormuz Strait

Oman’s foreign minister will travel to Iran on Tuesday, Iran’s foreign ministry said, as Tehran and Muscat seek a way to regulate the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Badr al-Busaidi will hold the “ongoing political consultations between the two sides, as two littoral states of the Strait of Hormuz, to help strengthen peace and security in the region,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement on Monday.

“The visit is aimed at strengthening Iran-Oman bilateral cooperation and al-Busaidi will meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to discuss bilateral and regional issues,” Baqaei added.

Iran has exerted control over Hormuz, a key waterway for oil and gas shipping, since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East on 28 February. It requires vessels to obtain permission and pay transit fees before using the waterway.

The United States wants the strait to return to its pre-war system of free navigation, while US President Donald Trump claims Washington “has total control” over Hormuz, through which around one fifth of the world’s oil and LNG exports passed before the war.

Iran and Oman have been in talks to establish a new route through the strait, the only entrance to the Gulf and which separates their two countries, but a deal has not yet been finalised.

Tehran, however, says even if the talks bear fruit, that would not on its own open the waterway unless the US meets Iran’s broader demands including the lifting of its blockade on Iranian ports.