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corridorUkraine's idle ports cost $1.75bn as farm exports fallFormer Chinese premier Zhu Rongji diesAt least 20 killed in communal clashes in central NigeriaIran accuses Qatar of holding three of its pilotsXi calls for shift to prevention as floods batter ChinaVenezuela frees 131 more political prisonersMore Syrians in Germany lose refugee protectionAudit finds gaps in Taiwan's counter-drone defencesIndia drafts rules to open nuclear power to private firmsHichilema takes early lead as Zambian count resumesParis prosecutors open investigation into tax portal hackReport details leverage behind Situational Awareness lossesArgentina has lost 30,633 companies under MileiAt least five dead in Indiana floodingIran detains two French diplomats over alleged infiltrationCanadian petition to expel US ambassador passes 170,000 signaturesIndia raises $50bn from its diaspora and ends swap facility earlyOpaque start-ups build erotic AI industry from Cyprus and MaltaBritain's biggest EV battery plant shelves expansion as Jaguar Land Rover talks stallThird drone debris find in a day on Turkish coastsForecasters put 95 percent odds on a very strong El NiñoSecondhand booksellers suspect AI firms behind bulk ordersEtna alert lowered as Catania airport reopensFuneral held for Indigenous girl whose death sparked outback riots
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Symbolic image: Iran rejects Omani Hormuz plan as US tightens naval blockadeSymbolic image

Iran rejects Omani Hormuz plan as US tightens naval blockade

4 sources

Tehran has turned down Oman's proposal for joint regional management of the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, ending hopes of a quick diplomatic exit from a war that has disrupted Gulf shipping for months. CENTCOM says it has redirected 20 commercial vessels, disabled two and boarded two since resuming its naval blockade of Iranian ports on 14 July, while Washington sanctioned what it calls Iran's Hormuz 'extortion network'. The Revolutionary Guards say they stopped three oil tankers in the strait and retain full control of the waterway.

What happened

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had ruled out Oman's proposal for regional joint management of the Strait of Hormuz, saying it had no chance of success and accusing the United States and Saudi Arabia of pressing Oman to advance "unrealistic plans". Iran insists the entire inbound route and part of the outbound route stay under its control; a 50-50 arrangement would not serve Iranian interests, the official said, though Tehran still calls Oman a valuable neighbour. About a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas passed through the strait before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February. CENTCOM said that since it resumed the blockade of Iran's seaports on 14 July it has redirected 20 commercial vessels, disabled two and boarded two, with more than 20 US ships operating in the region. The Revolutionary Guards said their forces struck three oil tankers and forced them to stop after the ships ignored warnings about an "unsafe and illegal route", and warned that US instructions to vessels would not go unanswered. Bloomberg reported that Washington sanctioned what it calls Iran's Hormuz "extortion network" over tolls levied on passing ships; oil rose more than three dollars a barrel on Wednesday.

The view from outside

Turkey's Daily Sabah carried the Reuters account of the rejection without editorial framing, foregrounding the disruption to Gulf trade. Russia's TASS relayed CENTCOM's blockade tally as a straight enforcement statistic. Serbia's Politika reported from Cairo that Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdelatty and US envoy Witkoff discussed de-escalation, with Egypt stressing good neighbourliness, international law and respect for state sovereignty, and noted via Tanjug that a drone hit a US-owned gas storage tanker anchored at the Egyptian port of Damietta.

What could happen next

The brief pause in strikes has broken: US and Saudi forces bombed Iran-aligned groups at several sites in northern and southern Iraq, saying they were behind drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities, and Tehran called blaming it a "major miscalculation". With the Omani track stalled, the remaining channels are the Egyptian-American contacts in Cairo and continued US sanctions and boardings at sea. Bloomberg expects the deadlock over the strait to keep the war running for months.

How the camps see it

  • Iran: Demands control over the inbound route and part of the outbound route through Hormuz, rejects an equal split with Oman and says its navy keeps full command of the waterway.

  • United States and Saudi Arabia: Enforce a naval blockade of Iranian ports, sanction what Washington calls an extortion network of Hormuz tolls and strike Iran-aligned groups in Iraq.

Also involved

MediatorsStates on the strike path

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