Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said Sunday evening that the agreement with Oman on a new maritime route in the Strait of Hormuz is unrelated to reopening or keeping the strait closed. He stated that Tehran rejects the southern route, which he said harms Iranian interests, and that the agreed route will be a new one, neither the northern nor the current southern route.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei stated Sunday evening that the agreement with Oman on a new maritime route in the Strait of Hormuz is not related to reopening or keeping the strait closed. He explicitly rejected the southern route option, which he said harms Iranian interests, and stated that the new route will be neither the northern nor the current southern route, but a new one agreed by both sides. This latest statement came after a series of comments from Iranian officials throughout the evening.
Earlier Sunday, the Foreign Ministry announced progress in talks with Oman (Sun 19:42 Jerusalem). Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi then confirmed the negotiations were in their final stages. Baqaei subsequently clarified that the understandings aim to manage the strait, not close it. He later asserted that reopening is tied to US violations of commitments, not to the Oman talks. The sequence of statements reflects ongoing internal debate and efforts to calibrate the official position.
As The Zioneer reported on Sunday morning, Araghchi agreed overnight to a Qatari-US compromise proposal for a dual-routing system, though mediators were still seeking IRGC backing. On Saturday Sat Jun 13, hardline figures warned that the draft agreement lacked clear language on Iranian control. Earlier this week, the IRGC reiterated that uncoordinated transit through the strait is "unacceptable and dangerous." On June 21, an Iranian negotiator explicitly linked the reopening of the strait to Israeli restraint in Lebanon.
The status of the Strait of Hormuz remains unchanged. The new route details have not yet been disclosed, and it remains unclear whether the IRGC will support the agreement. Internal Iranian divisions over the terms of any reopening persist.
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