Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time being”, Axios reports. Meanwhile, Iran and Oman have resumed talks on a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran and Oman discussed a phased plan for a temporary shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz during the Omani foreign minister’s visit to Tehran on Tuesday, as tensions remain high between Iran and the U.S. over the strategic waterway.
Iran says the U.S. war and military presence in the region have worsened marine pollution around the Strait of Hormuz, calling for environmental protection to form part of future arrangements governing the strategic waterway.
A growing oil spill from a stranded tanker carrying nearly one million barrels of Russian crude has raised environmental concerns off the coast of Oman, where authorities are racing to contain a slick that now covers hundreds of square kilometres near a protected marine reserve.
The programme opened with tentative diplomatic progress in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran and Oman agreed in principle on a new shipping route, before turning to Europe's intensifying heatwave and its growing impact on energy supplies and public health.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, two key maritime chokepoints in the region, decreased significantly from the previous day, according to shipping data.
Iran says it is holding “positive” talks with Oman on reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic, while an official source familiar with the negotiations has said an “agreement is within reach”.
Tehran had made plans to strike sites in Ukraine after Kyiv attacked an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea, a senior Iranian military adviser has said. Iran refrained from taking action after Kyiv said the strike was a mistake, Mohsen Rezaei told the state IRIB TV channel.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf has promised that the U.S. will “pay the price” following what Iranian authorities said was a deadly strike on a residential building on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf that killed three members of a family.
The fragile diplomatic pause between the U.S. and Iran is rapidly eroding as renewed military exchanges and attacks on shipping expose the limits of June's agreement and raise fresh doubts over the prospects for lasting negotiations.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi have discussed arrangements to ensure the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran and Oman have held the first meeting of a new joint committee to discuss the future management of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said on Monday.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for 26 June, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Oman has announced measures to keep vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz, confirming it will maintain free passage and impose no tolls as efforts continue to restore navigation through the strategic waterway.
A secretive offshore oil transfer network backed by U.S. military support has helped keep Gulf energy exports flowing despite major disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, a Reuters investigation has found.
World leaders have welcomed a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. announced on Wednesday, following a tense day marked by threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to wipe out Iranian civilisation if a deal was not reached.
In an urgent response to escalating global energy instability, South Korean Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik announced on Tuesday that he will embark on a high-stakes diplomatic tour to Kazakhstan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.
Fifteen Turkish-owned vessels remain stranded in the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, Türkiye’s Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan is evacuating nearly 200 people from the Middle East on a special charter flight departing from Oman.
Britain's first chartered repatriation flight from Oman has been rescheduled following a series of technical and operational issues, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Thursday. The government had chartered a flight from Muscat to London which was due to leave on Wednesday evening.
Iran’s top diplomat said that the next round of nuclear talks is expected in less than a week after what he described as “progress in the most serious exchanges” between Tehran and Washington. The statement follows the third round of nuclear talks on Thursday (26 February) in Geneva.
Nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran in Geneva have been described as “positive”, according to a report by Axios citing a U.S. official.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has described the second round of indirect nuclear talks with the United States as a "good start" as negotiations concluded on Tuesday (17 February) at the Omani consulate in Geneva.
After months of heightened tension following their war in June 2025 and weeks of escalating mutual threats, Iran and the United States resumed fragile nuclear diplomacy on Friday, as negotiators from both sides held critical mediated talks in Muscat, Oman.
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