Iran and Oman agree a temporary seven-mile Hormuz corridor for commercial ships

Iran and Oman have agreed the outline of a temporary shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, after Foreign Ministers Abbas Araghchi and Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi met in Tehran on 25 August.

Gharibabadi, speaking on state television, said the corridor would be about seven miles, or 11.3 kilometres, wide. Entry into the Persian Gulf would run through Iranian territorial waters. The exit would use Omani waters, with ships still passing through Iranian waters on both legs. He compared the pattern to a two-way highway. Only commercial vessels would be allowed. Military ships would stay out. "Militarily, the Strait of Hormuz is closed," he said.

A temporary lane, a 30-to-60-day clock

The arrangement is temporary. Gharibabadi said Iran and Oman must negotiate a permanent route within 30 to 60 days to replace the old traffic scheme. He also said the waterway would not fully reopen until the United States meets commitments under an interim peace deal signed in June.

Al Busaidi was more forward-looking. After the meeting he wrote that talks had been constructive and that he hoped the two countries would soon announce a temporary corridor and practical steps to restore safe navigation. A permanent management system would follow. A joint statement said the framework also includes a mine-clearing project and further technical talks on traffic management, information exchange and related security services.

Why the coordinates matter

Before the war that began in February, the strait handled about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. Most commercial traffic has been shut or diverted since then. Oman tried in June to open an alternative lane with the International Maritime Organization. Iran said it had not been consulted. Some ships on that lane were attacked. The IMO paused the plan.

The new design puts Iranian water on both the inbound and outbound tracks. That is the political core. For eight years, Gharibabadi said, ships passed through Omani waters and Iran absorbed the security cost. Tehran now wants the entry and exit geometry rewritten as a national-security file, not only as a traffic file.

The mine-clearing clause sits in open contradiction with President Donald Trump's claim that every mine in international waters has already been detonated or removed. If Iran and Oman are still planning a joint clearance project, they do not accept that the channel is clean. A projectile also struck an oil tanker off Oman in recent days. The crew survived. No one claimed the attack.

Oil prices and the next announcement

Brent had already eased after the first reports of the Tehran talks, falling about 2.6 percent to $86.30 a barrel in one session as traders priced a chance that some tankers would move again. That price move is a bet, not a schedule. No date has been set for the first commercial transit on the seven-mile lane. No list of accepted ship types, insurers or reporting points has been published.

The next public step is the announcement Al Busaidi said he hopes to make soon. Until that notice names coordinates, start times and a mine-clearance plan that both coasts sign, the strait remains a closed military zone with a sketched civilian detour.