Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a planned meeting in Oman on Monday will focus on a new maritime route through the Strait of Hormuz, Anadolu reports.

Araghchi told the London-based Arabic-language news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the meeting will be held in the Omani city of Salalah with the participation of Iran, Iraq and five Gulf countries.

He said the gathering was initially envisaged as a meeting of eight countries bordering the Gulf, but Bahrain had decided not to participate, leaving seven countries at the talks.

“The main, and indeed the only, agenda of this meeting is the new maritime route in the Strait of Hormuz,” Araghchi said.

He said Tehran and Muscat had finalized an agreement on establishing the new maritime route and had prepared maps and a joint statement outlining the arrangements.

Participating countries will be briefed on the agreement, related maps and the joint statement, after which the documents will be submitted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for registration, he added.

He stressed that the agreement with Oman “by no means” signifies the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Araghchi said the understanding instead sets out the framework and details of new entry and exit routes that would be used if conditions are created for reopening the strategic waterway.

Araghchi said Iran’s condition for reopening the strait is for the US to return to its commitments under the Islamabad memorandum of understanding.

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“If the US returns to the commitments it accepted and signed in the Islamabad understanding and acts accordingly, the conditions will be created for the situation in the Strait of Hormuz to return to normal,” he said.

He accused Washington of undermining maritime security through what he described as a naval blockade and economic warfare, saying the Iran-Oman arrangements could provide the framework for navigation to return to normal if Washington fulfills its commitments.

He added that Tehran believes responsibility for ensuring security and stability in the region rests solely with regional countries.

Araghchi stressed, however, that Monday’s gathering is not aimed at establishing a new regional security mechanism, saying its agenda is limited to the new maritime arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz.

The foreign minister expressed hope that Monday’s talks would pave the way for further consultations on issues of common concern among countries in the region.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that foreign ministers from regional countries would meet in Oman on Monday over the joint Iran-Oman shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, with the agreement to be communicated to the IMO. He reiterated that Iran would reopen the strait when the US ends its attacks and naval blockade.

​​​​​​​The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in February, prompting Tehran to retaliate against Israel and US military targets across the region.

Washington and Tehran reached the Islamabad understanding in June with Pakistani and Qatari mediation, but its implementation later stalled amid disagreements over the Strait of Hormuz. The US resumed military attacks on Iran in August, with Tehran responding by striking US military assets in several Arab countries aligned with Washington.

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