New York, Aug 4: Iran is in talks with Oman to set up a “single two-way route” through the Strait of Hormuz to allow ships through the strategic waterway, according to Tehran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei.

That arrangement would replace “the multiple separate lanes” that shipping used in the strait, he said at a news briefing in Tehran on Monday, according to the news agency IRNA.

The negotiations between the two countries on opposite sides of the strait “have focused on replacing separate northern and southern routes with a single intermediate corridor designed to accommodate the interests and security concerns of both coastal states”, IRNA said, paraphrasing the spokesperson.

However, Oman’s foreign ministry has been silent on the negotiations as of early Tuesday, neither publicly denying nor confirming they were afoot.

If they do agree on an arrangement for ships to resume sailing through the strait, it would be a boon for countries — and the world economy — that are strangled by the block on energy shipping.

But it would also sideline the US because, according to Tasnim news wire, Baqaei said no other country was involved in the talks.

US President Donald Trump has said that talks were taking place with Iran on reopening the Strait, but Baqaei denied it.

The strait has been closed since the February Israel-US attack on Iran, except for occasional spurts in ship traffic.

Tehran has mined the strait and also attacked ships trying to pass through, while the US has blockaded Iranian ports and fired on ships defying it.

IRNA said, “The proposed interim corridor would remain in use until Iran and Oman agree on a permanent replacement for the existing international Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS)”.

The UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted in 1968 the TSS proposed by Iran and Oman.

“It designates shipping lanes for maritime traffic in order to reduce collisions and improve safety”, according to the IMO.

The TSS designates two-mile wide lanes in each direction with a two-mile separation strip between them.

The IMO has now advised ships to avoid the TSS “due to the reported presence of mines”.

Media reports quoting unnamed US and Iranian officials said that under the Muscat-Tehran plan the Strait would operate like a highway with ships travelling on lanes on the right-hand side.

Those going to the Gulf countries would follow a route near the Iranians side, while those exiting would go on the Oman side, according to the reports.

However, Baqaei said the southern route through Omani waters that Washington tried to operate “contradicted” the June Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran “and created environmental and national security concerns”.

The US Navy escorted some ships along the Omani side, but the ships came under attack, and it was stopped.

The media reports said that under the arrangement, Iran could charge a service fee from ships going through its side without calling it a toll that would run afoul of international law, and which Trump has vehemently opposed.

From reports on his briefing, Baqaei appeared to have sidestepped a question on fees.

New York, Aug 4: Even as US President Donald Trump warned that he was giving Iran a “last chance before decapitation”, he said that they were talking about opening the Strait of Hormuz “literally by tomorrow”.

“I mean they’re going to go quickly, one way or the other. It’s not very complex”, he said on Monday at the Oval Office.

“We’re talking about the Strait, the opening of the Strait, having it open, literally by tomorrow”, he said, but Iran has denied there were any talks with the US.

The contradictory claims leave the gateway to the world for 20 per cent of fossil fuels trapped in uncertainty.

“We are not holding any negotiations with the United States at present”, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said at a news briefing in Tehran.

Speaking a few hours before Trump, he said that except for Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is on a pilgrimage to Iraq, all the negotiators were in Iran.

Trump dismissed it, writing on Truth Social, “Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous” because after they “beg” for a meeting “they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions”.

Baqaei did say that Iran was in consultations with Oman, which is across from it on the Strait, for what the Iranian news agency Tasnim described as a “temporary arrangement that would ensure maritime safety in the strategic waterway”.

He said that no other country was involved in Muscat-Tehran talks.

Trump said that he held off the massive bombing campaign he had planned on Sunday because Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and “numerous people” called him to hold off.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to Trump on Sunday and, according to the Saudi Press Agency, “emphasised the necessity of prioritising dialogue to reduce tensions and the importance of exerting all possible efforts to achieve a truce that paves the way for diplomatic solutions”.

Trump said Iran was spooked by leaks about the planned attack, “very very hard, harder than any” since World War II and pleaded,”We want to talk. We want to talk about the Strait”.

A Memorandum of Understanding on opening the Strait, where shipping was disrupted after the bombing of Iran, was signed by Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian on June 17, but unravelled within weeks after Iran attacked ships in the Strait and the US blockaded Iranian ports.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had initiated the February 28 bombing of Iran with the US, met Trump in Washington last week.

Days after the meeting, Trump prepared for the attack, which media reports said could be carried out with Israel.

However, the Gulf and neighbouring countries have a stake in preventing the conflict from flaring up as they bear the direct brunt of Iran’s retaliation.

Iranian attack on a US base in Jordan killed three US Army personnel, one of them of Indian origin, last month.

Iran also hit Bahrain and Kuwait in the resumed confrontation.

A second chokepoint, the Bab al-Mandab Strait that leads to the Red Sea, was also put into play when Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen attacked Saudi oil installations in the area.

That disrupted shipping in the area, which serves as an alternate outlet for some oil, mainly from Saudi Arabia.

Cairo, Aug 3: A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh early Monday, Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics said.

The earthquake occurred at around 3:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) at a depth of 10 km, with its epicentre located at 30.19 degrees north latitude and 32.61 degrees east longitude, according to the institute.

The institute said it had received reports that the tremor was felt by residents, “without any loss of life or property.” Xinhua correspondents also felt noticeable tremors in Cairo, the Egyptian capital.

Following the earthquake, Egypt’s Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar ordered the immediate activation of the country’s health emergency plan and the convening of the ministry’s central crisis and emergency operations room.

The ministry raised the alert level to the highest at emergency and critical-care departments in hospitals nationwide and confirmed the readiness of ambulances and rapid-response teams.

It said the health situation remained stable, and no earthquake-related injuries had been reported.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Red Crescent activated emergency plans in cities where the earthquake was felt and said it had received no reports of casualties or property damage.

Egypt lies close to active tectonic zones around the Gulf of Suez, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, making the country susceptible to occasional moderate earthquakes, although most result in little to no damage.

Located in the Mediterranean Sea, where the African Plate slides beneath the Eurasian Plate, causing moderate to strong seismic activity felt in northern Egypt.