Iran’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that an agreement with Oman on a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz is being finalized, while cautioning against interference in the arrangement by what it called certain third parties and warning that the United States and Israel still pose a danger to vessels in the waterway. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had already told the Iranian cabinet that talks with Muscat were on their way to being concluded, and ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the two sides were converging on a corridor that is neither the northern nor the southern route but one both governments can accept.

Regional officials described an emerging framework under which ships would enter the Persian Gulf through an Iranian-controlled route and exit through one controlled by Oman, with service fees levied to cover security and protection of the maritime environment. Those officials said the talks remain live, that the final shape could change, and that any deal is tied to Washington lifting its blockade of Iranian ports. Under the reported terms, inbound traffic would hug Iran’s coastline while outbound traffic ran alongside Omani territorial waters, with no toll charged — instead a service fee funding maritime security, environmental protection and monitoring, with proceeds split evenly between Tehran and Muscat.

Any agreement that formalizes Iranian control over the strait would represent a significant strategic win for Tehran. Critics quoted in the reporting argue the arrangement would amount to de facto recognition of Iranian authority over an international waterway, and officials have raised concerns that naval mines still sitting in parts of the strait could compel commercial vessels to coordinate their movements with Iranian authorities. One Iranian negotiator said the agreement could run anywhere from one to three months and would produce a situation in which Iran is dominant.

Washington’s public posture has been more guarded. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday there had been progress but not finality on an agreement for free transit, expressing hope it would come together shortly. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC there was a chance of a deal within a day or two to open the strait and move toward more normal conditions, and when asked whether tolls would apply, said he expected freedom of movement. Separate reporting indicated the United States, Iran and Oman were closing on a 60-day interim arrangement to reopen the waterway without tolls, with an announcement targeted for as early as Wednesday. President Trump has framed the sequence as two phases — opening the straits first, denuclearization second — and told reporters the current round was Tehran’s last chance.

The stakes for American consumers and manufacturers run through the price of a barrel. Brent crude reversed early losses to gain 1.4% to $80.45 a barrel in early trading Wednesday, after sinking 5.3% on Tuesday as reopening prospects improved, while U.S. benchmark crude added 0.7% to $76.29. Prices snapped a two-day decline after Yemen’s Houthis said they had struck a Saudi vessel in the Red Sea, though they remain well below recent highs. Brent topped $126 a barrel in April at the peak of the conflict.

Roughly a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas moved through the waterway before the war, and Iranian attacks on shipping have largely shut it down, driving up prices for fuel, fertilizer and other goods and unsettling economies well beyond the Gulf. That fertilizer channel matters for American growers heading into the next planting cycle, and the fuel channel is already visible at the pump. The Energy Information Administration expects Brent to average $74 a barrel in the third quarter, down $27 from its previous outlook, with retail gasoline averaging $3.80 a gallon this quarter against more than $4.20 in the second quarter.

The war began on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched strikes aimed at Iran’s missile program. An interim agreement in June reopened the strait and started a 60-day clock for talks on ending the war and settling the nuclear dispute, but it collapsed as hostilities over the strait escalated — and that deadline is now roughly two weeks out. Iran has in recent weeks repeatedly attacked ships using a corridor close to Oman that the U.S. military oversees and that was designed to bypass Tehran’s control, while Central Command continues escorting commercial traffic under persistent threat of Iranian missile fire.

The risk has not lifted: a cargo ship reported being struck by an unidentified projectile in the strait off the Omani coast, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, with damage confirmed by a British maritime security firm. For shippers, insurers and the American businesses waiting on Gulf cargo, the distinction between a route on paper and a route crews will actually sail is the one that counts.

JBizNews Desk | Dubai

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