ISTANBUL
Foreign ministers from Arab states will meet in the Omani capital Muscat on Monday to sign an agreement establishing a joint Iran-Oman shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said.
“This week, on Monday, the foreign ministers of the Arab countries will meet in Muscat to sign an agreement establishing a joint route between Oman and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and to notify the International Maritime Organization of the agreement,” Pezeshkian said in an interview with Indian broadcaster India Today published Saturday.
“The countries whose territories were used to launch attacks against us by the US will also attend this meeting,” he added.
Commenting on the war with the US and the economic pressure imposed on Iran, Pezeshkian said Washington had failed to achieve its objectives militarily and was therefore resorting to economic measures.
“They could not achieve their objectives through war, which is why they turned to economic pressure, but we will not stop,” he said.
As for the US naval blockade on Iran, the Iranian president said his country was not entirely dependent on maritime routes.
“Maritime routes are certainly not something on which our survival depends, and they will not be able to achieve their objectives in this way either,” he said.
Pezeshkian said Iran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz when the US ends its blockade and attacks.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said that Oman would host a regional ministerial meeting on Monday, with the participation of eight states bordering the Gulf.
Baqaei said the meeting would discuss regional issues and the outcome of Iranian-Omani talks on designating safe routes for commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
He said Iran was working to ensure security in the waterway but maintained that the safety of vessels could not be guaranteed as long as the US naval blockade and military intervention continued.
There was no immediate confirmation from Oman of Monday’s meeting.
Last Monday, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Mohsen Rezaei said an agreement with Oman on a new corridor through the Strait of Hormuz would be signed within days.
Rezaei said the entrance and exit of the proposed corridor would be under Iranian control.
