Araghchi: Talks With Oman Are Only About a Transit Route, Not Reopening the Strait of Hormuz

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday, August 8, 2026 (17 Mordad 1405), speaking to reporters alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian's news conference, that talks with Oman over the legal mechanism and management of the Strait of Hormuz concern designating a new transit route for ships, and that the two sides are "very close" to an agreement, but that a full reopening of the strait depends on other conditions, including compensation for the United States' violations of the Islamabad memorandum.

According to Ecoiran, citing Tasnim News Agency, Araghchi said the previous vessel traffic route is no longer acceptable to the Islamic Republic and that designing a new route involves major technical and legal complexity, so talks currently focus on a temporary route ahead of a final arrangement. He said the United States was responsible for violating the Pakistan memorandum, under which traffic was supposed to return to normal within a month; he said traffic had reached 60 percent of normal levels within the first two weeks.

The remarks come after several days of rallying in Tehran's markets on hopes of an imminent reopening of the strait, including consecutive record highs on the stock exchange's main index.