Iran meeting with Gulf countries to discuss Strait of Hormuz deal without the US

By Kylie Atwood, Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — Gulf diplomats and Iranian officials will meet Monday to discuss an Omani plan for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to regular tanker traffic, but a critical player won’t be at the table: the United States.

Despite shipping traffic remaining depressed, President Donald Trump has insisted the state of the waterway is acceptable for now with the US military escorting oil tankers.

But the meeting on Monday underscores that — despite active efforts to develop alternative corridors for passage through the strait — countries in the region are unwilling to accept the status quo as the new normal. After months of private discussions on a complicated possible legal framework to reopen the strait that could allow Iran and Oman to collect fees, diplomats are hopeful the gathering could create some momentum for a deal.

“There is no imminent breakthrough expected, but resolving the strait issue is the most pressing issue, so we need to start somewhere,” a regional source said.

The possibility of Iranian tolls is still widely rejected, but there is a willingness to consider voluntary contributions for directing passage through the strait, the sources said. The Omani legal framework includes voluntary payment for providing navigational safety and environmental protection, according to three sources familiar with the plans.

Trump administration officials have privately told those in the Gulf region that they want to refocus any future US-Iran negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program and not reopening the strait, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

“I’m not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday night, after Iran retaliated following US strikes. “I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing.”

One goal for the Monday meeting is to agree on maps for routes going through the strait, one of the sources said. Still, the likelihood of the Gulf Corporation Council countries and Iran getting behind a comprehensive plan to open the waterway will be virtually impossible without the US at the table.

While the US initially underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the strait in response to the US and Israel launching combat operations earlier this year — a strategic error that Tehran has capitalized on by leveraging its ability to threaten commercial shipping and prolong the war — American forces believe they have now reached a point where they, militarily, have the upper hand in the waterway, a US official said.

“We don’t want to talk about the strait, and that is the position of the administration right now — we’re only going to talk to you if you want to talk about nuclear file,” the official said.

Iranians have signaled to regional players that they would be open to nuclear negotiations with the US when the strait issue is resolved, including lifting the US blockade, the regional source said. As a result, getting the ball rolling on a framework to reopen the waterway is likely a critical step to pave the way for nuclear negotiations and an overall end to the war.

The possibility of mandatory fees or tolls for tanker traffic will be a major sticking point. Before the conflict broke out, the waterway was open to commercial traffic without any required charges. And in the early days of the conflict, the US and regional players were adamant about one thing: The postwar status of waterway could not include new fees, especially fees that would financially benefit Iran.

Now, after months of surging global energy prices and intensive work on a legal framework to reopen the strait, the absolutist nature of this sentiment has faded, according to multiple European and Gulf diplomats.

“We won’t accept something that was not there before, but there could be symbolic new rules that allow both sides to save face from both sides,” said a European diplomat briefed on the Omani proposal.

Trump administration officials have reviewed the plans being drafted by Oman in recent months, sources said, but they have not publicly signed onto the framework. Instead, Trump and members of his administration continue to claim that the US is the only player that can facilitate an open waterway.

“We are the only country in the world that can ensure, as you heard the president say, the control over the Strait of Hormuz,” Vice President JD Vance said last week.

In recent weeks, the number of oil tankers moving through the strait has greatly increased due to US military escorts enabling passage, though commercial ships continue to be struck by Iranian attacks as they attempt to transit.

There are questions, however, around how long the US military can credibly maintain its substantial commitment of ships and resources to aid in moving ships through the Strait.

The US Navy has successfully escorted as many as 40 commercial vessels on a given day, but the complexity of those operations underscores how Iran still poses a real threat to those ships and the American military personnel tasked with protecting them.

As a result, US diplomats and regional sources privately concede that the Gulf effort to develop a framework to reopen the strait is a necessary endeavor — even if the US is not at the table for the first meeting.

The administration has also sought to downplay just how vital the waterway may be in the years to come, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently claiming the strait will become “like a worthless piece of water” within two years.

While regional players and US officials say resiliency in developing alternative routes for energy exports has been impressive, they argue that finding a long-term solution for the strait should remain a priority. The need to develop that plan is even more necessary given recent Houthi military successes that have threatened passage out of the Red Sea, the sources said.

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