TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said negotiations between Iran and Oman on arrangements for managing the Strait of Hormuz are nearing an agreement, while stressing that reopening the strategic waterway remains contingent on the United States addressing its violations of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Araghchi said Tehran and Muscat were working to establish a legal framework for managing vessel traffic through the strait, including the designation of a new shipping route.

“We are very close to an agreement,” he said, while emphasizing that several other conditions must also be met before the waterway can fully reopen.

Araghchi said a Traffic Separation Scheme previously used for vessels transiting the strait was no longer acceptable to Iran and that a new scheme would have to be established. Given the technical and legal complexities involved, he said Iran and Oman were currently considering a temporary route that could serve as the basis for a permanent traffic scheme.

Iranian and Omani military and naval officials have been conducting technical discussions using existing maps, he said, adding that the final route would be determined once those consultations are complete.

The foreign minister also reiterated Tehran’s position that alleged violations of the Islamabad MoU must be addressed individually. He said Iran had been implementing Article 5 of the agreement and had expected maritime traffic to return to normal within a month.

According to Araghchi, shipping activity had already recovered to around 60 percent of normal levels within two weeks. He accused the United States, however, of attempting to establish alternative routes through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iranian warnings and of seeking to undermine Iran’s management of the waterway.

“The violation of the memorandum of understanding and Iran’s management of the Strait of Hormuz are by no means acceptable to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.

The comments followed remarks by IRGC spokesman General Hossein Mohebbi, who said the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was separate from the Iran-Oman negotiations and would ultimately depend on Washington accepting Iran’s conditions.

Mohebbi said the waterway was governed by its own legal and defensive mechanisms and urged the United States not to interfere in negotiations between Iran, Oman and other regional countries. He said conditions for reopening would be established once Washington accepted Iran’s terms and ended its interventionist approach.