By Steve Holland and Timour Azhari
WASHINGTON/RIYADH, Aug 7 (Reuters) - A U.S. official on Friday reported progress between Iran and Oman that could soon reopen the Strait of Hormuz, potentially restoring oil exports that have been disrupted by the five-month-old U.S. war with Iran.
The U.S. official, who declined to be identified, said Washington soon anticipated an agreement between the two countries, which sit on either side of the strait, so that normal oil traffic could resume.
A deal between Iran
and Oman over control of the strategic waterway is seen as crucial to a wider peace agreement.
"There is progress between Oman and Iran on the strait, and we expect a deal soon," a U.S. official told Reuters on Friday. "Once the deal is announced to restore commercial shipping without impediments, the United States will lift the blockade of Iranian ports."
"As always, U.S. actions will continue to be performance-based and tied to Iran’s implementation of its commitments," the official said.
Before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, about one out of every five barrels of oil consumed worldwide transited the strait, but Iran has used the hostilities to justify charging a toll on oil tankers and firing on ships that attempt to cross the strait without permission.
That disruption in oil shipments has caused energy prices to surge and fueled inflation.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has repeatedly signaled that a deal to open the strait could be close, only to have Iran deny that talks are under way. It was unclear whether the latest flurry of negotiations would yield a more lasting arrangement.
Iranian strikes on Strait of Hormuz shipping have been coupled with increased attacks by its Yemen-based allies, the Houthis, who have targeted ships at another oil chokepoint on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
NEW SECURITY PACT
Alarmed at a regional conflagration that has brought Iranian missile fire onto Gulf oil exporters, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint defense agreement in Mecca on Friday.
The pact among three U.S. allies with majority Sunni Muslim populations is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all, the countries said in a statement.
Turkey said the agreement was not aimed at any specific country and was purely defensive. But it comes at a time of heightened tensions with Shi'ite-majority Iran.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has been trying to broker an end to fighting on another front of the war between Israel and Iranian-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
A Lebanese official said on Friday that Lebanon and Israel agreed on a shortlist of countries that could send troops to verify the disarmament of Hezbollah under a U.S.-brokered agreement. The United States would pick countries from the list.
IRAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS DIPLOMACY
Washington and Tehran have not engaged in direct high-level talks since U.S. Vice President JD Vance met Iranian officials in Switzerland in June, shortly after the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement. That short-lived June 17 memorandum of understanding established terms for resuming Strait of Hormuz oil shipping and led to a ceasefire.
Amid internal opposition to the deal in the U.S. and Iran, hostilities resumed on July 7, only to be put on hold again. The U.S. military's Central Command has not reported any strikes on Iran since July 29.
Analysts have said signs of fissures between Iran's civilian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, and the other power centers in Iran, notably Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, may be complicating peace efforts.
In an interview with state television broadcast on Friday, Pezeshkian defended his government's policies against hardliners who have opposed negotiations with the United States. He insisted that most senior military commanders supported talks towards a deal to stop the fighting.
"America's biggest enemy is China, why don't they fight? China is doing its own thing and is getting stronger day by day. When we can get our rights through dialogue, why not do it?" he said.
(Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Timour Azhari in Riyadh, Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, Samia Nokhoul in Dubai, and Enas Alashray in Cairo; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)
