The Foreign Minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, ruled out that the agreement reached with Oman implies the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and conditioned that decision on the United States resuming the commitments made in the Islamabad Memorandum, signed between Washington and Tehran in June.
“The agreement with the Sultanate of Oman will in no case mean that the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened,” Araghchi said in an interview with the pan-Arab media Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The head of Iranian diplomacy stated that the condition set by Tehran is that the United States returns to fulfilling the commitments established in the agreement reached under the mediation of Pakistan.
Iran and Oman reached an agreement in early September on safe navigation routes in Hormuz, after technical and diplomatic talks between the two countries. The details will be presented this Monday during a meeting in the Omani capital.
“The central topic of tomorrow’s meeting in Oman is the new maritime route through the Strait of Hormuz,” explained Araghchi, who added that Tehran will provide the participating countries with the details of the agreement and the maps corresponding to the new route.
In addition to Iran and Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq will participate in the meeting.
Bahrain, on the other hand, announced that it will not attend the meeting and stated that it will not participate in collective meetings that include Iran as long as diplomatic relations between the two countries are not restored. It has also criticized Iranian attacks on infrastructure and civilian property in the region.
Araghchi said that Iran considers that the responsibility for ensuring regional security and stability lies with the countries of the area themselves and expressed hope that the meeting in Oman will open new consultations on matters of common interest.
The Islamabad Memorandum, signed in June between Tehran and Washington with Pakistan’s mediation, provisionally contemplated the cessation of hostilities, the lifting of the US naval blockade, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.
The understanding also included the lifting of oil sanctions against Iran and the release of Iranian funds frozen abroad.
Its implementation, however, became stalled due to differences between the United States and Iran over control of maritime routes in Hormuz, one of the main points of tension between the two countries since the start of the war on February 28.
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