Iran announced on Monday that it had reached an agreement with Oman on a plan for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between the two countries, and that the sides were now working to finalize details of a joint statement.

Iranian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that “an understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route.”

He did not elaborate, but details that have previously emerged suggest the deal would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and exiting through a route close to Oman. Ships would transit without paying fees or tolls during the interim period.

Iran and the United States have been locked in a stalemate over control of the key waterway and Tehran’s nuclear program, with Tehran effectively putting a closure on the strait while the US has blockaded Iranian ports.

The US has sought an acceptable deal to open the strait before ending its blockade of Iranian ports, and it is unclear whether the new agreement would meet Washington’s expectations.

Baghaei conceded the talks with Oman have gone slowly, “but we had planned, and still plan, to finalize the understanding in the form of a package: the map plus a joint statement.”

His comments came as a 60-day deadline for finding an agreement to end the war under a June memorandum of understanding expired, with no signs of a deal between the US and Iran. The MOU, which Israel is not a party to, largely broke down soon after it was announced, and Iran resumed attacks on ships it accuses of trying to transit the strait without its permission, leading to US retaliatory strikes.

In an early-morning post, US President Donald Trump said that the US’s top priority was to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon.

“The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in........

© The Times of Israel