Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Muscat, Oman, on Friday for talks on the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply transits, days after the sharpest U.S.-Iran military confrontation in years.
The visit comes as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly vowed to avenge the killing of his father, trading direct threats with President Donald Trump in an exchange that raised fears of further escalation.
Heavy clashes between U.S. and Iranian forces earlier this week preceded Araghchi’s departure for Muscat. Oman, which maintains diplomatic ties with both Washington and Tehran, has brokered back-channel contact between the two governments in previous crises.
The Strait of Hormuz, a 21-mile-wide chokepoint between Oman and Iran, is the sole maritime exit for oil exports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Any Iranian move to restrict or close it would send global energy markets into immediate turmoil.
Neither the Iranian foreign ministry nor Omani officials had issued a formal statement on the agenda of the talks as of Friday afternoon.
Araghchi is expected to remain in Muscat through the weekend. Further rounds of contact between the two sides, potentially including indirect U.S. participation, have not been ruled out, sources told the Wail.