Oman offers Iran Gulf-backed plan for voluntary fees to use Hormuz

Oman presented Iran with ⁠a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, a Gulf source and a Western diplomat told Reuters on Tuesday. The plan could serve as a basis to end the disruption to trade through the strait caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

President Donald Trump, who abruptly called off a two-week US bombing campaign over the weekend in his latest strategic U-turn, said there were “good talks” under way with Iran but threatened to restart strikes unless negotiations deliver.

Iran denies seeking to resume ‌talks with the United States.

Washington launched its renewed bombing campaign earlier this month to break Iran’s grip on the strait, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war.

Iran effectively shut the strait to ships other than its own after the US and Israel attacked on February 28. A deal last month between Washington and Tehran partially reopened it, but the agreement collapsed in early July after Iran fired on ships using a channel it does not approve.

Iran has said it wants to manage the strait alongside Oman, which controls the opposite shore, and charge service fees to ships that use it. Washington wants to return to the status quo before the war, when ships were able to pass freely with no payments, and says charging ⁠mandatory fees would be illegal.