DUBAI, AUG 17 (AP): Iran said it has reached an agreement with Oman over a plan for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which runs between the countries, and the sides are now working to finalize details for a joint statement.
Iranian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran that “an understanding has been reached regarding the map of the transit route.” He did not elaborate, but details that have previously emerged suggest the deal would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and exiting through a route close to Oman. Ships would transit without paying fees or tolls during an interim period.
The US has sought an acceptable deal on opening the strait before ending its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran effectively closed the strait — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies passed before the war — after Israel and the US attacked the country on Feb 28. Baghaei conceded the talks with Oman have gone slowly, “but we had planned, and still plan, to finalize the understanding in the form of a package: the map plus a joint statement.”
Trump says US will bomb Oman if it gets in the way: Trump told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst that the US would bomb Oman if it “gets in the way,” using an expletive for emphasis.
Fox News did not provide audio of the interview.
This is not the first time that Trump has threatened Oman. In May, he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting that “Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”
Trump also said the expiration of the 60-day deadline on talks to end the war was irrelevant and said there was no timeline, Yingst said. Trump said the US has a back channel for talks with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Yingst added.
Kushner meets with Netanyahu over Gaza road map: Mideast negotiator Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, met Monday with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the day after he had two-hour talks with Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt on disarmament.
Netanyahu last week rejected a 15-point, US-backed road map to move the ceasefire deal forward in Gaza.
Hamas says it has agreed to the road map, which includes disarmament, and the group is urging mediators and the US-created Board of Peace to “compel” Israel to sign on.
But Israel, which under the road map must gradually withdraw from Gaza, says Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal.
Israeli troops occupy about 60 per cent of the strip, and Netanyahu has previously threatened to advance further.
Houthi rebels say they attacked boats in the Red Sea: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed that they attacked a ship and four military boats Monday in the Red Sea off the Yemeni city of Mokha near the strategic Bab el-Mandab Strait.
The rebels fired a number of ballistic missiles at the vessels, resulting in the capsizing and burning of the boats, Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthis, said in a statement.
The rebels claimed that the vessels belonged to Saudi Arabia, without providing evidence. There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia, and The Associated Press could not independently verify the Houthi claim.
Saree also said the rebels launched a drone attack on government forces in the central province of Marib.
