Iran sets conditions for reopening Strait of Hormuz, top security official Rezaei says

• Iran has set conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including ending the regional war and lifting US sanctions.
• Iran and Oman agreed on a shipping corridor through the strait, sharing control and revenues between their waters.
• Shipping via the strait stopped after February's war, despite ceasefire attempts by Washington and Tehran to restore traffic.

TEHRAN - Iran is preparing a list of conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz after mediators asked Tehran to set them out, said Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, adding that ending the regional war was among them.

Rezaei said Iran had agreed with Oman on a shipping corridor through the strait, with parts of the route in Omani waters and parts in Iranian waters.

Ships would use a designated central channel if the US met Iran’s conditions, he said through an interpreter in an Al Manar TV interview.

On Aug 26, a senior source said Iran and Oman were still working on details of an agreement on the waterway after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the two countries had agreed on how to share control of the strait and its revenues.

A Guards spokesperson said Iran would not allow the strait to reopen unless Washington lifted what Tehran describes as a blockade of Iranian ports while also paying compensation and removing sanctions.

Before the war began in February, the strait carried roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. Shipping through the waterway has largely stopped since then.

Ceasefire agreements announced by Washington and Tehran in April and June were intended to restore maritime traffic, but did not hold. REUTERS