OMAN PROPOSES TWO-CORRIDOR PLAN TO REOPEN STRAIT OF HORMUZ

Oman has drafted a proposal to reopen and manage commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz using two separately controlled routes, according to media reporting reviewed by Mission Offline.

Under the draft, which has not been finalised, both corridors would remain open. The Southern Corridor, running through Omani territorial waters, would allow free navigation under pre-war conditions.

Vessels transiting the Northern Corridor, through Iranian territorial waters, would require prior approval from Iran. No tolls would be imposed under the draft, according to a source cited by CNN.

The proposal is the clearest sign of a diplomatic track running alongside the military escalation in the strait, where U.S. forces have launched strikes on Iran after U.S. Central Command said Iranian forces attacked a Cyprus-flagged container ship.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Omani counterpart, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, in Muscat on Saturday. Both officials discussed mechanisms to ensure the safe passage of vessels through the waterway.

There is a dispute over how far the plan has travelled. A source familiar with the discussion said the plan had recently been delivered to the United States. A Middle East official said that while the United States had been consulted on possible mechanisms for the strait, Oman had not delivered a formal proposal. Mission Offline could not independently resolve that discrepancy.

The United States has set out its own conditions. Washington is demanding that Iran publicly state it will stop attacks on ships in the strait, and that all lanes remain open with no tolls imposed on shipping.

That demand goes further than the Omani draft. The two-corridor model would leave the northern route under Iranian approval, which falls short of the unconditional open-lane guarantee the United States has been seeking.

The question of money is central. Oman has drawn a distinction between mandatory fees and voluntary charges levied on shipping companies to maintain the waterway, in a manner similar to models used in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore.

That distinction matters because the United States has framed tolls as unacceptable, while Iran has an economic incentive to draw revenue from traffic passing through waters it controls.

A voluntary-charge model would allow both sides to claim a version of success. Iran could collect contributions toward maintaining the corridor, while Washington could say no compulsory toll had been imposed on shipping.

NBC News reported that Iran and Oman had proposed a fee plan for the Strait of Hormuz, according to sources.

Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the United States had offered Tehran a trade-off involving frozen Iranian funds in exchange for abandoning Hormuz toll payments. Mission Offline could not independently verify the terms of that reported offer.

The diplomacy is running under severe time pressure. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy has declared the strait closed until further notice, and U.S. forces have launched a third round of strikes against Iran this week.

Any corridor plan would have to survive that escalation. A negotiated traffic mechanism depends on both sides accepting that commercial vessels can transit safely, which is precisely what the reported attack on the container ship called into question.

It would also need buy-in from shipping companies, insurers and flag states, who would have to decide whether a route requiring Iranian approval is commercially and legally acceptable, and whether war-risk premiums can fall far enough for normal trade to resume.

Oman has long served as a back channel between Washington and Tehran, and its territorial waters give it direct standing in any arrangement governing the strait. That position makes it one of the few actors able to put a technical proposal in front of both sides.

For now the plan remains a draft. It has not been finalised, its delivery to Washington is disputed, and it has not been publicly accepted by either Iran or the United States.

Whether it becomes an off-ramp from the current crisis will depend on whether the fighting pauses long enough for the corridors to be tested, and on whether Iran is willing to trade approval rights over the northern route for the sanctions and financial relief it has been seeking.

Fact-check date: July 12, 2026

Article type: News

Sources: NBC News; CNN; Al-Monitor; Asharq Al-Awsat; Reuters; Omani and Iranian diplomatic statements as reported by Reuters and CNN; U.S. Central Command.