Iran, Oman close to agreeing on new Hormuz route: Araghchi

• Iran and Oman have made progress toward establishing new maritime routes through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
• Araghchi stressed that the changes do not mean the strategic waterway is reopening, saying additional conditions must first be met.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that negotiations with Oman over establishing new maritime routes through the Strait of Hormuz have progressed well and reached their final stage.

Speaking to journalists, Araghchi said existing routes through the strategic waterway would be replaced with new ones, with specialists currently working on the relevant maps.

“This, of course, does not mean that the Strait of Hormuz is reopening,” he said.

Araghchi said any reopening of the strait would depend on several additional conditions that Iran has communicated to the relevant parties through intermediaries.

He described the talks with Oman as entirely technical and legal, focused on determining maritime routes that were first established in 1968.

According to Araghchi, the recent war highlighted the need to revise those routes, with Iranian and Omani experts now working on the changes.

Once the new routes are finalized, he said, they would be used when the Strait of Hormuz is eventually reopened.