Iranian foreign minister to visit Oman for talks focused on Strait of Hormuz and shipping safety, state media reports.
TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Oman on Saturday for talks on the Strait of Hormuz, state media said.
The visit “will be focused on the Strait of Hormuz and shipping safety” and is “a continuation of the consultations that we started with Oman over the past one or two months,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.
The strait is a major source of contention between Washington and Tehran, which effectively closed the strategic waterway in response to the war launched by the United States and Israel in late February.
The conflict was subsequently halted by a ceasefire agreement on April 8, but there have been sporadic outbursts of violence ever since, most sparked by disagreements over the strait.
Tehran insists it must control the waterway, a conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, and has expressed a desire to charge fees for ships that transit it.
It did not have such powers before the war, and while the strait comprises Omani and Iranian territorial waters, under international law the two cannot generally block passage or charge tolls.
