Iran has rejected the 1968 shipping arrangement that governed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and has placed naval mines in the waterway, according to a report by The New York Times. Iranian officials said Tehran holds “permanent control” over the strait and will not accept an alternative corridor proposed by the United States and Oman.
The 1968 routing system is now at the center of the dispute
The report said the Strait of Hormuz narrows to just 24 miles at its tightest point, with no neutral international waters running through the middle. Its navigable space overlaps with the sovereign waters of Iran and Oman. Around 1968, Iranian and Omani officials negotiated a traffic separation scheme that was later approved by the International Maritime Organization. The framework was designed to separate shipping lanes and reduce collision risk for large tankers moving through the narrow passage. For decades, it served as a core operational rule for oil and gas shipments passing through the strait.
Tehran says the pre-revolution framework no longer fits
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said this week that the old arrangement allowed foreign warships to pass freely and posed a threat to Iran’s national security. He also argued that the agreement was made before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and no longer reflects current realities. He told Omani authorities that “those routes must completely change” and called for expert and technical talks to redraw the maritime layout and zones of control.
Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the Crisis Group, said Iran in 1968 was the region’s dominant military power and had little reason to use geography as leverage. In the current setting, he said, Tehran is using the strait as a geopolitical instrument.
US-backed alternative corridor also faces rejection
The report added that the United States and Oman recently tried to establish an alternative passage on the southern side of the strait within Omani sovereign waters, with US military escorts. Gharibabadi responded that Iran would not recognize any parallel route created without its approval.
Jennifer Parker, a former naval officer at the Defence and Security Institute of the University of Western Australia, said Iran appears to be turning military and political claims into a legal argument aimed at gaining leverage in future talks with Washington. The moves come while a fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran remains in place, adding fresh strain to a critical global energy route.