Talks between Iran and Oman over a fee-collection system for ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz suggest the two adversaries are nowhere close to resolving the war, according to The New York Times.
A social media post from Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority announced that the agency had established the boundaries of its management supervision zone over the strait, with all ships required to obtain permits before transiting, according to The Times. Ships approaching from the east must first pass through the Gulf of Oman, which borders the strait.
President Donald Trump dismissed any toll arrangement earlier this week. "We want it free," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, according to The Times. "We don't want tolls. It's international. It's an international waterway." Trump had previously both condemned the possibility of Iranian tolls and floated the idea that the U.S. could itself charge them, according to The Times.
The toll discussions come amid broader diplomatic stagnation. Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned this week that any new attack on the country would prompt strikes "in places you cannot even imagine," according to The New York Times. According to The Times, the president said Gulf leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar appealed for additional time to pursue a negotiated solution, prompting him to delay what he called a significant planned strike on Iran.
Vance told reporters at a White House briefing that the talks were generating substantial forward movement, though he was candid that the administration held a fallback position. "There's an option B, and the option B is that we could restart the military campaign," he said, according to The Times.
Among the conditions Iran put forward in its most recent proposal were longstanding sticking points the U.S. has refused to accept, including compensation for war damage and a formal recognition of Iran's uranium enrichment rights, according to The Times. Trump called Tehran's most recent offer "a piece of garbage," according to a Times analysis of the president's statements on the conflict.
The war began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran. A cease-fire brokered by Pakistan took effect April 8, but the Strait of Hormuz has remained effectively closed. Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, roughly 20 percent of global oil and gas shipments moved through the strait each day, according to The Times. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority was stood up in early May to serve as the official gatekeeper for strait transit, though legal scholars argue the tolling and vetting regime runs afoul of international maritime law.
Pakistan's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, traveled to Tehran this week for his second visit in a week as mediators work to preserve the cease-fire, according to The New York Times.