Symbolic imageIran rejects Omani plan for joint control of the Strait of Hormuz
Oman has put a Gulf-backed proposal to Tehran to manage and reopen the Strait of Hormuz jointly, modelled on the Strait of Malacca with voluntary fees for passing ships. Iran's deputy foreign minister rejected an equal split of the transit routes, demanded one lane entirely under Iranian control plus part of the second, and said the waterway stays closed unless Muscat accepts. US Central Command said it has redirected 18 commercial vessels since resuming its naval blockade of Iran on 14 July.
What happened
Oman presented Iran with a regionally backed plan for a joint mechanism to run the Strait of Hormuz, with voluntary fees and no sole Iranian control, according to Reuters, Al Jazeera and The National; it is modelled on the Strait of Malacca, where Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore ask ships to contribute voluntarily. Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, told Iranian state television that Tehran rejects a 50/50 division of routes because it does not address Iranian security concerns, and instead wants one lane fully under Iranian control and part of the opposite lane too, calling this a final position. He added that the strait stays closed if Oman does not accept, and that Tehran has no plans to negotiate with the United States, though talks with Muscat proceed step by step. GCC foreign ministers, chaired by Oman's Badr Al Busaidi, discussed freedom of navigation by video on Tuesday, and Iran's foreign minister raised strait security with his Saudi and Omani counterparts on Monday. CENTCOM said that since it resumed the blockade on 14 July it has redirected 18 commercial vessels, disabled two and boarded two, with more than 20 US ships enforcing it. Iran shut the waterway, which carried a fifth of world oil trade, after the US and Israel attacked on 28 February.
The view from outside
Russia's TASS carried the CENTCOM figures without comment, presenting the blockade as the running enforcement backdrop to the talks. Serbia's Politika headlined the Iranian position as an ultimatum and stressed that Washington insists on free passage while Tehran wants to keep control over the terms of transit. Al Jazeera cited an analyst noting that Malacca-style voluntary contributions raise roughly 70 million dollars a year, far below the one million dollars per ship Tehran has reportedly proposed as a service fee.
What could happen next
Points of contention listed by Al Jazeera remain open: ship routes, the fees, who sets the arrangements, and mine clearance, which would reportedly fall to Iran. Its correspondents reported that Oman is now floating three lanes, one Iranian, one international and one Omani, and that Iranian sources show more flexibility than public statements suggest. The National reported that Iran threatened to strike any European ship and any vessel involved in a US plan to use frozen Iranian assets for repairs, while the Houthis claimed another attack on a Saudi tanker in the Red Sea. Oman is briefing Washington although the US is not formally at the table, and the mediation continues alongside the paused US air campaign.
Iran: Tehran insists on controlling one transit lane in full plus part of the second, rejects equal division as failing to meet its security needs, and says the strait stays closed otherwise.
Gulf mediators: Oman and its GCC partners push a Malacca-style joint mechanism with voluntary fees that would reopen the waterway without giving any single state sole control.
United States: Washington demands free navigation, opposes mandatory transit fees and keeps enforcing its naval blockade while staying formally outside the Omani talks.
Also involved