TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Iran is prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under an arrangement reached with Oman, provided the United States meets commitments under a memorandum signed in June, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday.
Pezeshkian said Tehran and Muscat had agreed on a route for ships to pass through the strategic waterway and that the arrangement had been communicated to Iran’s supreme leader.
“We agreed with Oman on the passage route through Hormuz, and if the US fulfills its commitments under the memorandum of understanding, we will open the strait,” Pezeshkian said, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA, as cited by Antara.
He said Tehran was following up on the arrangement, with the reopening of the waterway tied to Washington meeting several conditions.
“If the US fulfills its commitments regarding lifting the sanctions and blockade, releasing assets, beginning investment and ending the war in Lebanon, we will also open the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
Pezeshkian said negotiations had made progress and that the United States had also accepted the need to return to the memorandum.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council reached what Pezeshkian described as an “exceptional” consensus on the agreement, with 12 of its 13 members voting in favor.
“This collective wisdom was a major achievement,” he said.
Iran Links Strait Reopening to US Commitments
As reported by Anadolu, Pezeshkian said sanctions and the blockade had initially been lifted under the memorandum, while negotiations began over the release of frozen Iranian funds and preparations were made for $300 billion in investment.
He said Iran’s imports and exports had subsequently fallen by between 25 percent and 35 percent.
According to Pezeshkian, banking and petrochemical sanctions were removed under the memorandum, while Iran exported nearly 90 million barrels of oil during the period in which the agreement was in effect.
He said Tehran had also held discussions with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over planned investments. However, he said the projects could not move forward as long as the war continued.
Iran, he added, had been working to restore the Strait of Hormuz to its previous status.
“But because they did not comply, the memorandum of understanding collapsed,” Pezeshkian said.
Iran and Oman have been negotiating arrangements for managing shipping through the waterway since the agreement between Washington and Tehran collapsed last month.
Under the memorandum, the United States and Iran had agreed to extend an April ceasefire and gradually restore shipping through the strait to prewar levels while conducting negotiations on a broader settlement to end the conflict that began in February.
Iran Faces Wartime Energy Pressures
Pezeshkian also addressed domestic energy concerns, saying Iran was dealing with wartime conditions as transport routes remained blocked, goods were prevented from entering the country and government revenues declined.
“We are in a state of war. First, we must understand that we are at war. The route is currently blocked, and goods are not entering. Gasoline is one of those goods,” he said.
The government has not yet decided when gasoline prices could be increased or how much they might rise, Pezeshkian said.
He said the only proposal currently under consideration involved creating a third pricing tier for fuel consumption above the regular quota.
“The proposed rate for this third quota is around 10,000 tomans ($0.05). Rumors about a price of 50,000 tomans are not true,” he said.
Any change would require consultations with Iran’s judiciary and parliament before implementation, he added.
Pezeshkian also called for greater use of public transportation as the country deals with its current conditions.
“We are in wartime conditions. Our infrastructure, including power plants and oil and gas resources, has been targeted, and energy production has declined,” he said.
The government is considering measures including remote work, expanded public transportation, stricter vehicle-efficiency standards and the electrification of taxis and motorcycles to reduce fuel consumption without placing additional pressure on the public.
