Iran says the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz depends on the United States, maintaining its control over the strategic waterway after warning it could restrict vessels it considers unauthorised following the outbreak of war with the US and Israel on February 28.

This handout photograph taken and released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on June 16, 2026, shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaking about the agreement reached with the United States.

Iran has said reopening the Strait of Hormus depends on the United States after President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted Tehran is keen for a deal.

Iran has denied the deal and said it will instead make arrangements with its neighbour across the strait, Oman.

According to state news agency IRNA, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said factors making the reopening of the Strait impossible included the naval blockade and other aggressive and threatening actions against Iran and its interests by the US.

Tehran said Wednesday that it and Oman have agreed a route for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and were finalising arrangements for jointly managing the strategic waterway, even as fresh security incidents highlighted continued risks for regional shipping.

Smoke rises following an Israeli controlled-explosion on the village of Kfartibnit as seen from Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on July 29, 2026.(Photo by Ammar Ammar / AFP) /

The agreement would be a step towards reopening the key energy route, but official sources briefing Iranian media stressed that any easing still hinged on Washington ending its own naval blockade of Iran’s ports.

Iran has exercised de facto control of the waterway and threatened any vessels transiting routes it deems unauthorised ever since the United States and Israel launched their war against the country on February 28.

“The geographical coordinates of the route envisaged by the two sides have been agreed upon and, if certain third parties do not obstruct the process, the joint statement of the two countries, containing the main considerations and points of agreement, is also in the final review and drafting stage,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, according to state news agency IRNA.

Mourners carry the bodies of members of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) who were killed earlier in Diyala in central Iraq by US-Saudi strikes, during the funeral in Baghdad on July 29, 2026.  (Photo by Murtadha Ridha / AFP) /

According to the report, Baqaei told journalists that talks with Oman were moving forward, but that even if an understanding was reached, it would not mean that the strait had become safe for all passing vessels.

“The factors making the Strait of Hormuz insecure still exist on the part of the United States, particularly the naval blockade and other aggressive and threatening actions against Iran and its interests,” he said.

Highlighting the risks, the captain of an oil tanker reported hearing two explosions while transiting the strait, nine nautical miles (17 kilometres) southeast of Kumzar, Oman, Britain’s maritime security agency UKMTO said on Wednesday. The crew and vessel were safe.

Yemen’s Houthis said separately they had struck two Saudi oil tankers, the eighth and ninth hit since they launched a blockade of the kingdom last month.

Military spokesman Yahya Saree said missiles hit the tanker Wafa off Yanbu in the northern Red Sea and the tanker Daisy in the Gulf of Aden.

Saudi authorities did not immediately comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at the White House on July 28, 2026, in Washington, DC. Netanyahu is meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the ongoing war in Iran. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Andrew Harnik / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

READ ALSO: Open Strait Of Hormuz Or Get ‘Hit Very Hard’, Trump Warns Iran

‘Fractured System’

Before the war, Hormuz carried around a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG exports, and prices have repeatedly surged since the dispute over the waterway erupted, piling economic and political pressure on Washington.

US Vice President JD Vance acknowledged American frustrations with the pace of diplomacy with Iran, saying negotiations would take time because of divisions within the country’s leadership.

“It’s going to be messy and it’s going to take some time to get there,” Vance told Fox News in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

“The reality… is that number one, the Iranians are extraordinarily difficult people. Number two, they have a fractured system,” he said.

A file photo of a vessel around the Strait of Hormuz

After imposing an effective blockade on the strait, Iran has insisted ships take a route that hugs the Iranian coast.

Many vessels have instead chosen to take a southern route, close to Oman on the opposite side of the strait, occasionally coming under fire.

Iran wants to control the strait and charge tolls, powers it did not exercise before the war and a development that the US would fiercely oppose.

In what has become a regular pattern, Trump last week threatened to hit Iran “very hard”, potentially with attacks against civilian infrastructure, only to pull back, hinting a deal was near.

But Iran’s foreign ministry denied negotiations were taking place with Washington.