TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Saturday that Iran has reached an agreement with Oman on a shipping route map for the Strait of Hormuz after weeks of technical negotiations.
Baghaei told Defa Press that Iran and Oman, the two coastal states bordering the strategic waterway, began intensive negotiations three months ago following the signing of the June 18 memorandum of understanding to establish safe navigation routes.
“Despite US obstruction, the talks have made positive progress over the past three weeks, and an agreement has been reached on the shipping route map,” he said.
Baghaei said the plan was the result of coordination led by the Foreign Ministry with the participation of Iran’s defense, security and environmental authorities.
He added that the two sides were still negotiating outstanding issues, including a statement to be issued by Tehran and Muscat, noting that exchanges between the two countries would continue until the process was finalised.
Baghaei stressed that the Iran-Oman arrangement was an independent agreement between the two coastal states aimed at ensuring the safe passage of ships through the strait, while preserving the sovereignty of both countries.
He said, however, that the full restoration of security in the strait and the resumption of normal commercial shipping depended on an end to what he described as illegal US actions, military threats and the naval blockade, as well as compensation for US breaches of commitments in the last two months.
The talks are part of technical negotiations launched under the Iran-US memorandum of understanding, which tasked Tehran and Muscat with developing a new navigation framework for the Strait of Hormuz. While Iran and Oman have continued discussions on shipping routes, Tehran has repeatedly said any decision to reopen the strategic waterway remains contingent on the US fulfilling its obligations under the memorandum.
Iran’s Araghchi says Islamabad MoU called for end to war, not ‘ceasefire requiring extension’
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview that the US violated the Islamabad Memoraundum of Understanding, which called for an ‘end to the war’, not a 60-day ceasefire requiring extension.
“What was set out in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was an ‘end to the war’; meaning that in this memorandum, an end to the war was declared,” he said, according to ISNA.
He blamed the US for the “resumption of hostilities”, saying that “The US violated the memorandum.”
Regarding the issue of a 60-day ceasefire, he said what was “mentioned as 60 days was a 60-day period for negotiations aimed at reaching a final agreement. Based on that, there was no 60-day ceasefire.”
“The mediators — both Qatar and Pakistan — are exchanging messages and remain in contact with us, but this does not mean negotiations at all. No decision has yet been made to resume talks with the United States.”
On the topic of Iran-Oman negotiations over the management of the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said their “negotiations with Oman are ongoing” but that it was a “separate matter” and that Iran was “currently in the process of designing a temporary route, which will later be converted into a permanent one.”
He said that Iran “may reach a conclusion [with Oman] soon,” but emphasised that the Islamabad MoU and the Strait of Hormuz’s management were two separate issues.
Hormuz can be opened or closed only by Iran’s command: Deputy FM
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi on Saturday rejected US President Donald Trump’s claims regarding the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that Iran retains authority over the strategic waterway.
Gharibabadi stated on X that “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech. Iran neither fears threats nor cowers before displays of power.”
Gharibabadi responded to Trump’s claim that the US might soon declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory following what he described as Iran’s defeat.
In the X thread, Gharibabadi said the waterway had been Iranian, remained Iranian, and would continue to be so, saying that it could only be closed or reopened under Iran’s command.
He also said Iran would ” continue to enforce the blockade” as long as the United States failed to acknowledge its strategic defeats and continued delusional claims.
Israeli strike kills seven in south Lebanon, state news reports
Seven people were killed in an Israeli dawn air strike in southern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanon’s state news agency said.
Three others were injured when Israeli planes struck a house in the southern village of Ansar, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.
The strike is one of the deadliest attacks on Lebanon in the weeks since it agreed to a U.S.-mediated peace framework with Israel. The terms leave Israeli troops inside occupied southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed and the Lebanese army takes control, terms the Iran-backed militia has rejected as surrender.
“The framework agreement…is an Israeli order written in Israeli ink that the Lebanese authorities have signed onto,” Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said during a speech on Friday.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure overnight in what it described as a security zone in south Lebanon in response to actions against its soldiers.
Israel’s military seized a swath of south Lebanon during a war with Hezbollah earlier this year, which was triggered when the group fired at Israel two days into the US-Israeli war on Iran. Israel has said it will keep its forces there to shield northern Israel from further attacks.
During a visit to south Lebanon on Thursday, defence minister Israel Katz said Israel would not withdraw from the regions it controls until Hezbollah is disarmed. A US State Department official said that a permanent Israeli military presence in the area was not consistent with commitments set out in the deal with Lebanon’s government.
At least 4,300 people, mostly civilians including women and children, have been killed by Israel in Lebanon in the latest round of hostilities since March 2.
