DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -Iran and Oman have agreed on a shipping route map for the Strait of Hormuz after weeks of technical negotiations, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Saturday, in what would be a step toward reopening the waterway that carries much of the world's seaborne oil.
Baghaei told the Iranian outlet Defa Press that intensive talks began roughly three months ago, following a June 18 memorandum of understanding intended to establish safe navigation through the strait. Despite obstruction by the United States, he said, the two sides reached agreement on the route over the past three weeks.
The plan was coordinated by the Foreign Ministry with Iran's defense, security and environmental authorities, Baghaei said. He added that Tehran and Muscat are still negotiating outstanding issues, including the text of a joint statement, and that exchanges will continue until the process is complete. Bloomberg reported that a joint statement is in final drafting.
Baghaei described the arrangement as an independent agreement between the two coastal states, meant to guarantee safe passage while preserving the sovereignty of both. He said full security in the strait and a return to normal commercial shipping depend on an end to what he called illegal U.S. actions, military threats and a naval blockade, as well as compensation for what he described as American breaches of commitments over the past two months.
Iranian officials have said repeatedly that the legal regime in the strait will not return to what it was before the war with the United States, which began Feb. 28. Earlier this month, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said an Iran-Oman framework would not by itself reopen the waterway, CNN reported.
Traffic remains heavily disrupted. The Emirates News Agency reported Saturday that a third Abu Dhabi National Oil Company vessel had been attacked while transiting the strait a day earlier, with no injuries, according to Reuters.
Unresolved questions include maritime service fees and security arrangements. Under international maritime law, coastal states may not levy tolls for passage through international straits, but they may charge for services such as pilotage and navigational assistance.