Iran and Oman agree to continue talks on Strait of Hormuz safety

Iran and Oman have reached an agreement to keep political, technical and legal negotiations ongoing to ensure the security of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. The talks, held in Muscat, involved foreign ministers Abbas Araghchi and Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, with legal and technical delegations from both sides. They referenced the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and noted the participation of a Qatari delegation acting as a regional mediator.

The negotiations come amid a sharp escalation between the United States and Iran. The U.S. Central Command reports a series of air, naval and drone strikes on Iranian military sites, while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps maintains that the strait remains closed to commercial traffic, citing illegal foreign interference. Both sides have exchanged missile and drone attacks across the Gulf, targeting bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. The conflict has pushed Brent and WTI crude prices up by more than 2 % and raised concerns about a disruption to the roughly 20 % of global oil that transits the Hormuz corridor.

The combined diplomatic effort and military confrontation underline the strategic importance of the strait for regional trade and global energy markets, with Qatar, the United States and Iran all directly involved in the ongoing negotiations and hostilities.