Hormuz, Iran and Oman propose a temporary shipping corridor

Iran and Oman have presented a proposal to jointly establish a temporary shipping channel in the Strait of Hormuz and to proceed with clearing the waters of mines. This is reported by Infobae, citing a Reuters dispatch and CNN en Español’s live coverage. The announcement follows a statement by US President Donald Trump according to which all mines had already been detonated or removed: the two claims coexist without any public document allowing one to establish which describes the actual state of the waters.

On the Iranian side, the picture rests on a partisan source. A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, quoted by the semi-official Tasnim agency and picked up by CNN, claims that agreements have already been reached on the division of the strait’s waters and the revenues derived from them, and that the United States is obstructing the process. No text of these agreements exists, nor is there an official American reply: it is an attributed statement, and should be read as such.

The mediation channel

In Doha, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed Al-Ansari, said Qatari officials talk daily with Washington and Tehran, with the goal of “exploring ideas and ways to return to the negotiating table” (transl. from Spanish), according to Moncloa.com. The mediation has been led by Qatar and Pakistan since the war began, in late February 2026: six months during which the point of contact between the parties has remained indirect.

While the diplomatic channel moves forward, the coercive one is widening. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented on Monday, August 24, a new sanctions package against Iran covering aviation, shipping, technology, gold and digital assets, targeting individuals, entities and vessels. According to Moncloa.com, Washington nonetheless avoided imposing the harshest measures available. The Iranian government responded by announcing it will resist; China, reports CNN, reiterated its support for the Islamic Republic following the threat of new sanctions.

What is happening in the water

On August 27, the British body UK Maritime Trade Operations reported, again through CNN’s live coverage, that an oil tanker transiting the strait was struck by an unidentified projectile; the resulting fire was later extinguished. The origin of the shot is not indicated, and none of the available sources attributes it.

Markets read the day as a step toward reopening. At 04:47 GMT on August 26, Brent crude futures were worth $86.28 a barrel: $2.30 lower than the previous reference, a 2.6% decline that brings the price to its lowest level since August 13. The drop is attributed precisely to expectations of a deal between Iran and Oman. It is the only quantitative indicator available in real time, and it measures an expectation, not an accomplished fact.

What we don’t know

The text of the Iranian-Omani proposal is not public; its route, duration and who would actually carry out the mine clearance are unknown. There is no official US reaction to the proposal, and there is no independent verification of the state of the mines: both Trump’s version and that of the Revolutionary Guards remain unconfirmed. The sanctions package presented by Bessent is instead an act announced by the Treasury, whose available sources describe the sectors affected but not the list of designated parties.

The next verifiable element is twofold: the publication of the designations linked to the August 24 announcement, and the number of ships that will cross the strait in the coming days. In the week ending August 21, 89 vessels departed and 103 entered; on August 24, two transited.