The Sultanate of Oman rejected Iran’s request to jointly impose service fees on commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a senior regional official who spoke to the New York Post on Friday.
The New York Post, citing an official, reported that Oman’s refusal stemmed from its desire to avoid a confrontation with Trump over tariffs, after he had threatened to bomb the country on several occasions.
The official said that Muscat refused to agree to impose fees, even voluntarily, in exchange for providing environmental and security services to ships, contradicting an earlier announcement by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that an agreement had been reached on sharing the Strait’s revenues.
According to a US official, the details of the proposed revenue-sharing agreement were not even finalized in Tehran, suggesting that the IRGC announced the agreement before it was finalized.
Trump had twice threatened to bomb Oman if it agreed to what he called imposing de facto fees on shipping in the Strait, saying on August 17: “If Oman stands in our way, we will bomb them very hard.”
The naval blockade that Trump reinstated against Iran would render any agreement on transit fees meaningless without US approval.
Despite considering itself a US ally, Muscat has maintained a mediating role in regional crises, hosting nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran in an effort to avert the current war, and previously mediating the release of Americans held by the Huthis in Yemen.
Oman also brokered the ceasefire agreement reached between the US and the Huthis in May 2015, which remains in effect.
Iran pressures Oman
In response, Iran has been pressuring Oman – which lies on the southern coast of the Strait of Hormuz – to accept post-war arrangements that would grant Tehran greater influence over the strait, one of the world’s most important oil and gas trade routes.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met with his Omani counterpart, Badr al-Busaidi, in Tehran on Tuesday, where they discussed the strait.
Hours after the meeting, Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Hossein Mohebi announced that “agreements” had been reached regarding each country’s share of the strait’s waters, as well as Iran and Oman’s share of its revenues.
However, sources familiar with the talks told the New York Post that Oman is backing away from the Iranian proposal, keen to avoid jeopardizing broader peace efforts in the region.
