Iran and Oman Agree a Temporary Hormuz Shipping Route, Seven Miles Wide and Under Iranian Watch

Iran and Oman have agreed on a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, announced it on August 26. The corridor is seven miles wide. It starts in Iranian territorial waters, and part of the exit route also runs through Iranian waters. Iran will watch ships before they enter and they'll need Iranian permission to pass.

The exact coordinates haven't been published, and neither have the operating rules. Both sides say technical talks will follow on a longer-term arrangement, including how to share information about ship movements.

Why a new route at all

Hormuz already has a traffic separation scheme. It was set up under the IMO decades ago and runs mostly through Omani waters on the southern side of the strait, around the tip of the Musandam Peninsula. Inbound and outbound lanes are each about two miles wide with a buffer zone between.

The new corridor moves traffic north toward Iran. That's the point. A route through Iranian waters is a route Iran can inspect, approve and, if it wants, close. It fits with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority Iran created in May to issue transit permits, and with Iran's earlier practice of steering permitted ships north of Larak Island.

For Oman the calculation is different. Muscat has spent the war trying to keep channels open with everyone. Agreeing a route with Tehran keeps Oman in the conversation and might get some ships moving. It also puts Oman in an awkward spot with Washington.

The US reaction

It was hostile, and fast. President Trump threatened to "bomb" Oman if it got in the way. The US has pushed its own alternative. In late June, the US-run Joint Maritime Information Center announced a widened route near Oman, aimed at putting more naval traffic through the strait in both directions and challenging Iran's claim to control it.

So there are now two competing ideas of how ships should use Hormuz. One runs under Iranian permission. The other runs under US naval protection. Commercial owners are stuck between them. Using the Iranian route with its permits and possible fees exposes them to US sanctions. Using the US route exposes them to Iranian attack.

How we got here

The June 17 memorandum between Washington and Tehran set a 60-day ceasefire, and Iran agreed to keep the strait open. That broke down over three issues: shipping routes, sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian assets. The agreement expired on August 18 with Hormuz still effectively closed.

Before the war about 130 ships a day used the strait by one count, carrying more than 20 percent of the world's oil and LNG. Brent was around $66. It has since been above $100 several times.

What it means for shipping

Not much, right away. A seven-mile corridor with no published coordinates, no clear fee schedule and open US opposition is not something a tanker owner or insurer can plan around. Underwriters won't cover transits under a regime the US is threatening to bomb.

The longer-term meaning is bigger. Iran is trying to turn a wartime chokehold into an arrangement with a neighbor's signature on it. If the corridor sticks in any form after the war, Hormuz stops being an international strait under shared rules and becomes a strait with an Iranian gate. That would change how every Gulf producer, importer and shipowner thinks about the region for a generation.