Vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, August 24, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

Iran and Oman say they have agreed on a new temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iran insists that the waterway will not fully reopen until the United States fulfils its commitments under the interim peace agreement signed in June.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, made the announcement on Tuesday after senior Iranian and Omani diplomats met in Tehran to finalise a phased plan for managing the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran and Oman have been in on-and-off talks for weeks about controlling traffic through the strategic ‌waterway, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war began in February.

Most shipping has been shut down since then.

The ​two countries said on Tuesday that they discussed “a joint temporary navigational corridor” through the strait and agreed to clear it of mines.

U.S. President Donald Trump said all mines in the strait had been cleared, repeating comments that he has previously made.

Though active hostilities between the U.S. and Iran have largely subsided, diplomatic efforts to reach a peace deal have stalled and passage through the waterway ‌remains perilous.

An oil tanker was struck on Tuesday ⁠by an unidentified projectile and disabled about 9 nautical miles (17 km) northeast of Oman’s Ash Shishah, which lies at the entrance to the strait, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said.

Separately, ⁠the U.S. Secret Service said on Tuesday that it was aware of a video broadcast by Iranian state television discussing a potential plot to assassinate Trump’s youngest son, Barron.

A three-minute video broadcast by Iranian state TV discussed a potential plot to assassinate Barron ​Trump, 20, ​claiming that he was being monitored and alleging that a $10 ​million bounty had been offered for his killing.

SANCTIONS

Despite ‌the ongoing tensions, the U.S. is beginning to send personnel back to some diplomatic missions in the Middle East that were evacuated or downsized amid tensions with Iran, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The move suggests Washington sees a lower risk of the conflict with Iran escalating in the near term, though some embassies will initially operate below full capacity.

In an effort to hobble Iran’s economy, the United States earlier this week threatened to punish countries that continue to ‌do business with Iran, but said it would not impose penalties ​immediately.

Oil prices fell for a second day as traders brushed off the ​impact of the U.S. sanctions, while Iran denounced the ​U.S. effort to isolate its economy as an act of “gross lawlessness”, expressing confidence that many ‌countries would not join the pressure campaign.

U.S. public approval ​of the war has fallen ​to its lowest level since the conflict’s early days, and Trump’s popularity is likewise at a record low ahead of congressional elections in November, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Thousands of people have died in the conflict, most ​of them in Iran and Lebanon, while ‌the U.S. and Israel have degraded much of Iran’s conventional military capacity. The exact state of its ​nuclear program, which the U.S. and Israel aim to dismantle, remains unknown.

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