Iran will seek to bar US and Israeli ships from the Strait of Hormuz and require compensation from hostile countries before they’re allowed to sail through it, according to local media reports on a proposed Iran-Oman deal to manage the crucial waterway.
The agreement has become key to expectations for a reopening of Hormuz and a resumption of energy flows that have been throttled since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
“That’s clearly not going to go down well in Washington,” said Thomas Warrick, a former State Department official who is now a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. “Instead of both sides making concessions, both sides are increasing demands.”
But asked during a White House event on Thursday evening about the negotiations, President Donald Trump responded: “Moving along good”.
There aren’t many US- or Israeli-flagged commercial ships globally, and few have sailed in and out of the Persian Gulf since the war started. It remains to be seen how broadly Iran might interpret such a ban, as the complex nature of vessel ownership and management means some shipping companies with US or Israeli ownership or investment could be viewed as having links to those countries.
In any event, Trump would be unlikely to agree to such a concession after months of insisting that American armed forces had essentially defeated Iran. Midterm elections that will determine control of both houses of Congress are just months away, and polls have found that the war has become deeply unpopular.