TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / August 29, 2026
Iran agreed with Oman on a Hormuz passage route but said reopening the strait depends on Washington fulfilling its Islamabad commitments.
Pezeshkian sets conditions for reopening
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that Tehran and Muscat had agreed on a passage route through the Strait of Hormuz, while stressing that a full reopening of the strategic waterway depends on Washington fulfilling its commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum.
“We agreed with Oman on the passage route through Hormuz, and if the US fulfils its commitments under the memorandum of understanding, we will open the strait,” Pezeshkian said, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
The Iranian president said the arrangement had also been communicated to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
Pezeshkian outlined several conditions Tehran says Washington must fulfil before the strait returns to its previous status.
“If the US fulfils its commitments regarding lifting the sanctions and blockade, releasing assets, beginning investment and ending the war in Lebanon, we will also open the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
“As far as the talks have progressed, they also accept that we must return to the memorandum of understanding,” Pezeshkian added, referring to Washington.
The president said Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had achieved what he described as an “exceptional” consensus on the arrangement, with 12 of its 13 members voting in favour.
“This collective wisdom was a major achievement,” he said.
Pezeshkian said sanctions and the blockade had initially been lifted under the memorandum, negotiations had begun over releasing frozen Iranian assets, and plans were being prepared for approximately $300 billion in investment.
Banking and petrochemical sanctions had also been removed, he said, allowing Iran to export nearly 90 million barrels of oil while the agreement remained in effect.
Tehran had held discussions with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates regarding planned investments, according to Pezeshkian, but the projects could not proceed while the war continued.
Iran, he said, had been working to restore Hormuz to its prewar status.
“But because they did not comply, the memorandum of understanding collapsed,” Pezeshkian said.
IRGC: control of Hormuz ‘completely decisive’
Hours later, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy reiterated that the agreement with Oman did not mean that the Strait of Hormuz had been fully reopened.
“The dominance of the fighters of Islam over this strategic waterway is completely decisive,” the IRGC Navy said in a statement carried by Iranian broadcaster IRIB.
“With all power and in complete authority, the Strait of Hormuz is closed to all ships that intend to transit without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” it added.
The IRGC said the restrictions would remain until the end of US military operations against Iran and Washington’s fulfilment of its outstanding obligations.
It also directly rejected repeated statements by US officials that the waterway had already been reopened.
The IRGC described those statements as “an outright lie,” saying they were intended “solely to control oil prices and cover up their own defeats.”
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi similarly said earlier this week that Hormuz had become a matter of Iranian national security.
He stressed that negotiations with Oman over a temporary maritime route do not constitute a general reopening of the strait.
Islamabad agreement collapsed amid renewed war
Iran’s restrictions on Hormuz emerged from the broader US-Israeli war against Tehran and subsequent negotiations over the strategic waterway.
A Pakistan-mediated memorandum reached between Tehran and Washington in June provided for an extension of the ceasefire, a temporary reopening of Hormuz and negotiations toward a broader settlement.
According to Pezeshkian, the arrangement initially produced tangible economic results for Iran, but Tehran says it subsequently collapsed because Washington failed to fulfil its commitments.
The US renewed attacks on Iran on July 8 and reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports during the subsequent escalation.
Iran has since maintained restrictions on shipping through Hormuz while responding militarily against vessels it says attempt to pass without authorization.
Tehran and Muscat have meanwhile pursued a separate diplomatic track aimed at establishing a temporary jointly managed shipping corridor.
The two countries have also discussed a joint mine-clearance project and a 30-to-60-day negotiating period toward a permanent maritime arrangement.
The Iranian position remains that this limited route is distinct from reopening the Strait of Hormuz itself, which Tehran says requires Washington to return to the Islamabad agreement.
The prolonged confrontation has sharply reduced maritime traffic through one of the world’s most important energy corridors. According to Al-Mayadeen, daily transits have fallen to single digits from approximately 140 before the war, while Brent crude was trading at around $87 per barrel.
(TPC, IRNA, IRBI, AA, Al-Mayadeen)
