Iran’s Foreign Minister Talks in Oman as Diplomacy Clings On
Even as the rhetoric hardened, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, flew to Muscat on Saturday and met his Omani counterpart to work on a mechanism guaranteeing safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz — evidence that the back-channel has not collapsed despite President Trump declaring last month’s memorandum “over”. The two sides agreed to hold further technical and political talks. Washington’s precondition is unchanged: Iran must publicly declare the strait open and its vessels safe before any wider negotiation resumes.
The split screen is the story — a supreme leader vowing inevitable revenge while his foreign minister sits in an Omani conference room negotiating shipping lanes. It is less incoherence than division of labour: the vow speaks to a domestic audience that has just buried its leader, while the Oman track manages the one issue neither side can afford to let spiral, the world’s most important oil chokepoint. Oman has been the quiet venue for these consultations for two months, hosting technical rounds in Muscat and Tehran. The sticking point is sequencing: the US wants a public Hormuz declaration first, Iran wants sanctions relief and guarantees. For UK households the read-through is the oil price, steady near $76 as the market bets the talks hold. Watch whether Muscat produces a concrete safe-passage mechanism, and whether the revenge rhetoric poisons it.