Iran and Oman are close to finalising an agreement to , potentially giving Tehran greater control over the key energy route and raising questions over how the US would respond, Bloomberg reported.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday that negotiations with had made “very good progress” and were in their final stages.
The proposed would include details of a temporary safe shipping route through the , a crucial transit point for global energy supplies. Baghaei said the arrangement would be documented with the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
He also expressed hope that unnamed third parties would not interfere in the discussions.
News of the potential agreement briefly reduced oil-price gains, as markets bet that a safe route could allow more tankers and commercial vessels to cross the strait and reduce the risk of further attacks on shipping.
Brent crude was trading near $97 a barrel by noon in London after earlier touching $97.93.
Macquarie analysts estimated that around 7 million barrels per day of crude and refined fuels are currently crossing Hormuz, compared with roughly 20 million barrels per day before the war.
governing traffic through the waterway. The two countries are also likely to seek service fees from vessels using the route.
The US, meanwhile, has been to restrict Tehran’s oil exports and wants Hormuz to return to its pre-war status as a freely accessible waterway.
Iran effectively closed the strait after US and Israeli strikes began in late February, and the disruption has sharply reduced shipping activity.
The proposed agreement comes after Iran claimed over the weekend that it attacked three ships using an unauthorised route and three US-linked vessels elsewhere.
The US military earlier said it had struck three Iranian crude tankers, destroying one of them, after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard targeted two US Navy warships with ballistic missiles.
The conflict, now in its seventh month, has driven up oil, fuel and natural gas prices and raised concerns about a fresh wave of global inflation.
The prolonged war is also putting , as higher fuel prices weigh on the US economy and could become a political issue ahead of the November midterm elections.
Repeated attempts to resolve the conflict diplomatically have so far failed, leaving the region in an uneasy stalemate marked by periodic exchanges of strikes.
