Oman has opened temporary shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz to facilitate the movement of vessels stranded, as the United Nations began evacuating thousands of seafarers following a US-Iran memorandum of understanding aimed at restoring maritime security.
The Omani authorities announced on Wednesday that two temporary lanes – one north and one south of the existing shipping corridor – had been designated to enable the safe passage of ships departing the region, without imposing any tolls .
The move follows talks in Switzerland where Washington and Tehran agreed to a framework to de-escalate tensions in the vital waterway, through which roughly a fifth of global oil shipments pass.
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, Oman and Iran reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring freedom of navigation in the strait in accordance with international law. Both sides also agreed to establish a joint working group to discuss future management of maritime transit, including navigation services and associated costs.
However, there remain some discrepancies over how the strait will be governed going forward.
Iran’s Director of Parliamentary and Legal Affairs at the foreign ministry, Hossein Noushabadi, said during a visit to Muscat that the waterway “will not return to what it was before the war,” stressing that regulating navigation falls under the jurisdiction of Iran and Oman.
Iranian state-affiliated Fars News Agency cited a military source as saying that coordination with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy would determine how many vessels are permitted to transit daily, depending on conditions.
Washington has pushed back strongly against any suggestion of new restrictions or fees. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the United States would not accept Iranian tolls on passage through the Strait.
“It’s an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” Rubio said during a Gulf tour that includes stops in the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain, adding that he believed regional states shared this position.
The US-Iran memorandum, agreed in Switzerland on Tuesday, includes the establishment of a direct communication channel between the two sides to prevent maritime incidents and ensure the safe passage of commercial shipping. The arrangement also stipulates a 30-day coordination mechanism.
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said a US-Iran hotline would be critical to preventing disruptions as the strait reopens, expressing optimism that Qatar could resume normal liquefied natural gas production within weeks.
The agreement has prompted cautious optimism among international stakeholders. The UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) confirmed it had begun evacuating more than 11,000 seafarers stranded in and around the strait during the conflict.
“I welcome with deep satisfaction the peace agreement concluded between the United States and Iran, marking a decisive step towards restoring maritime security and bringing to an end the unacceptable attacks against civilian shipping,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.
The evacuation operation is being carried out in coordination with Iran, Oman, other coastal states, the United States and the maritime industry. According to the IMO, vessels are being contacted individually and instructed to use the temporary routes established by Oman.
Open-source tracking data indicated that at least 200 tankers remained stranded in the strait as of Tuesday. At the same time, maritime intelligence firm Kpler reported that 172 vessels have transited the waterway since the agreement was reached, including 42 ships on Saturday alone.
Most recently, South Korea’s maritime affairs ministry said four ships operated by South Korean companies had successfully exited the strait and were en route to their destinations, while 18 of the 26 vessels stranded since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran remain in the Gulf.