Iraqchi: Iran-Oman negotiations on the Strait of Hormuz have reached the final stages

🔸Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said on Sunday that talks with Oman about the Strait of Hormuz have reached the “final stages.”

🔸According to IRNA, the official news agency of the Iranian government, Araqchi, in a session of the cabinet, provided a report on the status of these talks and announced that “the negotiations are on the path to finalization and are going through their final stages.”

🔸Last week, Iran’s foreign ministry had said that negotiations between Tehran and Muscat are still ongoing. This comes as Kazem Gharibabadi, Araqchi’s deputy, said on Tuesday of the same week that the Islamic Republic rejected Oman’s proposal to split equally the transit routes between the two countries in the Strait of Hormuz.

🔸Earlier, Reuters had reported, citing a knowledgeable source, that Oman had offered a proposal to create a regional joint mechanism with voluntary payments of tolls or fees for managing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran’s use.

🔸At the same time as Araqchi’s remarks on Sunday were published, the foreign ministry’s spokesperson, in an interview with an Iranian government television channel, claimed that negotiations between Iran and Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz “have nothing to do with whether the strait is open or closed.”

🔸Ismail Baqai also said that the future management of the Strait of Hormuz will be carried out by Iran and will be done in consultation with Oman.

🔸These positions were put forward as Donald Trump, the U.S. president, early on Sunday announced that he had halted a new plan to attack Iran at the request of the Islamic Republic and Middle Eastern countries, and to complete an agreement that would lead to the “immediate, complete, and full-fledged” reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and “the end of Iran’s nuclear threat.”

🔸Iranian media, citing informed governmental sources, rejected the claim that Iran had asked the United States to stop the attack plan.