Iran ties Hormuz reopening to US concessions on several demands

DUBAI/WASHINGTON/CAIRO - Iran said it was nearing a final pact with Oman defining new shipping lanes between them through the Strait of Hormuz but repeated that the US must meet other conditions, including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats, before the strategic waterway is reopened.

A US official told Reuters on Aug 7 that Iran and Oman were close to a deal that could pave the way for restoring safe passage through the strait, a major conduit for oil and gas shipping before Iran blocked Hormuz in response to US and Israeli attacks on Tehran that began in late February.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Aug 9 an agreement with Oman on the strait was in its "final stages" but reiterated comments made on Aug 8 that Tehran would not reopen the channel unless the US met certain demands made by Tehran.

The deal with Iran would set out the new shipping lanes to be used once the US fulfils those conditions and the strait is reopened, Iran's Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

Iran and the US are not engaged in direct talks, and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington breaches an interim deal signed in June, Araghchi said, adding that messages were being exchanged through intermediaries.

US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Axios that the US was "low-keying" it with Iran. "We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money."

Compensation

Araghchi said reopening the strait would depend in part on the US paying compensation for damage it caused in widespread attacks on Iran.

The secretary of Iran's top national security body, Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, also listed ending further US threats against Iran; halting aggression toward Iran and its Lebanese, Palestinian, Yemeni and Iraqi allies; removing a US naval blockade in the Gulf; lifting sanctions on Iran; and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

The United States and Israel launched air strikes on Iran more than five months ago. Trump has said the attacks were aimed at keeping the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons and degrading its ability to threaten the region.

Washington and Tehran agreed to a ceasefire in June, but the US reimposed a blockade on Iranian shipping in the Gulf in July, a move that Tehran said violated the truce, which by then had already broken down.

"Once the deal is announced to restore commercial shipping without impediments, the United States will lift the blockade of Iranian ports," the US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

US actions would be tied to Iran's implementation of its commitments, the official said.

The US comments indicated delicate sequencing toward a deal that sources had told Reuters appeared to be set to give Tehran control over vessel traffic entering the Gulf through the strait, which shippers have said was not easily workable.

The United Arab Emirates said on Aug 8 that Iran had attacked a ship affiliated with its state oil company. There was no immediate comment from Iran, whose Revolutionary Guard Corps previously has attacked ships that it said tried to cross the strait without Iranian permission.

Houthis attack

Iranian strikes on Strait of Hormuz shipping have been coupled with increased attacks by its Yemen-based allies, the Houthi rebels, who have targeted ships at another oil chokepoint on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis also declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month in response to what they said was a Saudi siege on them in Yemen, an allegation denied by Riyadh, which backs Yemen's internationally recognised government.

The Yemeni rebel group said they had attacked Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery on Aug 9, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Sunni Muslim allies Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the US-Israeli war on Shi'ite Iran.

The Saudi energy ministry said a fire had broken out at the refinery but was later extinguished with no injuries and authorities were dealing with the incident, without giving a cause.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the new alliance was not directed against Iran or any other country, but rather served as a general pledge to support security. REUTERS