Iran rejects Oman's joint-management proposal for the Strait of Hormuz and tables its own

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on state television on Tuesday, 28 July 2026 (6 Mordad 1405), that Tehran has rejected Oman's proposal for joint management of the Strait of Hormuz. He said Muscat had suggested creating a route through the strait split 50 percent in Iranian territorial waters and 50 percent in Omani waters, with ships entering through one country's waters and exiting through the other's, alongside "voluntary fees" collected from vessels.

Gharibabadi said Iran's counterproposal would place one route entirely within Iranian territorial waters, with part of the second route also passing through Iranian waters so that Tehran can oversee both inbound and outbound traffic. He warned the strait would remain closed if Oman rejects the plan, and said a return to pre-war arrangements, under which ships transited without paying any fee, is not possible.

Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG was shipped through this route. Under a memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States on 17 June 2026 (27 Khordad 1405), the strait was to reopen to shipping free of charge for at least 60 days, but vague wording left the question of ultimate control unresolved. Paul Musgrave, a professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, noted that a comparable model in the Strait of Malacca raises about $70 million a year through voluntary fees. Al Jazeera reported that Tehran's proposed "service fee" was $1 million per ship, a figure Tehran has not confirmed.