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Iran set preconditions Saturday for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including compensation for war damages, complicating a potential deal to reopen the waterway essential to the global economy.
Tehran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait since the United States and Israel struck Iran in late February. It wants to charge tolls for passage and has attacked ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.
Continued attacks in the strait, which was free to transit before the war, led to the collapse of an April cease-fire. Mediators have since urged both sides to return to the terms of a June memorandum.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions with Oman over transit and management of the strait were "approaching the final stages."
He added, however, that the reopening of Hormuz "is subject to other conditions and compensation for the violation" of the June agreement.
Iranian security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr on Saturday set out demands for reopening the strait, including an end to what he called the "war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq."
He also demanded the lifting of a parallel U.S. naval blockade of Iran, an end to sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage, according to remarks reported by Tasnim news agency.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, said the reopening of Hormuz had "nothing to do with the negotiations between Iran and Oman."
The Guards said the "enemy is forced to accept Iran's conditions for the opening of the strait."
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Saturday that Washington expects Iran to restore the flow of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-conflict levels and ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels.
"Our expectation is you're going to see the same amount of oil and gas come out of the Gulf that you saw before the conflict started," Vance told Fox News, saying Iran had communicated that intention to Washington.
"But you know, we don't trust. We verify," Vance said. "We actually look not at people's words but people's deeds."
He said Washington was also monitoring Iranian statements about potentially imposing tolls on vessels using the strategic waterway.
"The Iranians have told us they have no plans to toll the Strait of Hormuz," Vance said, adding that the United States would judge Tehran by its actions.
Vance said Iran and Gulf countries, particularly Oman, had been discussing ways to maintain safe maritime traffic.
The comments came as transit through Hormuz has dropped significantly, with Iran targeting ships it accuses of skirting its preferred route through Iranian waters.
The United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned what it called a "hostile Iranian attack that targeted a tanker belonging to ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) with a missile while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, without causing casualties."
Later Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a ship was hit by a projectile off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire that was extinguished but no casualties.
It was not immediately clear whether the UAE and UKMTO statements referred to the same ship.
On Friday, ADNOC said 15 of its vessels had been attacked in Hormuz since the start of the war, "including three vessels this week alone."
Oman's Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned "repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz," without naming Iran.
It also said "ongoing negotiations regarding navigation arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding in a positive and constructive atmosphere," and urged against any actions that could jeopardize the progress.
The previous Iran-U.S. deal, intended as a starting point for negotiations on a permanent settlement, said Iran and Oman would discuss future arrangements for the strait with other Gulf countries and "in line with the applicable international law."
International law generally forbids tolls in such waterways.
Separately, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saturday that he expected Egypt to join a joint defense agreement between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan designed to stabilize the region, calling Cairo a "natural partner on all issues."
"I believe that at the next stage Egypt will also be among us in the alliance. We already act toward one another as if we were alliance members," Fidan said in an interview.
A drone struck U.S. assets at an Egyptian port on the Mediterranean last month, marking the first drone attack on Egyptian territory since the outbreak of the Iran war.
Fidan said the regional four-country platform that includes Egypt would remain a very important political platform.
He described Egypt as a natural partner on all issues and said he believed Cairo would join the alliance at the next stage once several technical issues were resolved.
Speaking to Turkish news agency Anadolu, Fidan said the agreement does not target a specific country.
"There is no common threat that we have put in writing," Fidan said, adding that the agreement does not target any country that does not attack its signatories.
Fidan said discussions on the initiative began before the current war environment, when there was no Iran-U.S.-Israel war, but Türkiye anticipated that American security concerns in the region would change, other developments would emerge and its fight against terrorism would remain on the agenda.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Friday that the pact meant an attack on any member would be regarded as an attack on all, adding that it was "intended to strengthen collective deterrence."
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