Oman has formally presented the United States and Western allies with a proposal to collect service fees from commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to diplomats cited by The New York Times, even as American and Iranian envoys arrived in Doha on Tuesday for indirect talks on implementing a temporary peace framework. The Omani plan, which draws on the voluntary-contribution model used in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, would see shipping companies pay for navigation-related services. The proposal lands amid a 60-day toll-free transit period agreed under a US-Iran memorandum of understanding, during which the two sides are to negotiate the strait’s future administration.

Viewed from Washington, the Omani initiative is met with firm resistance. President Donald Trump has described any toll or transit fee as “unacceptable,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that the United States would oppose monetising access “regardless of whether it was called a fee or a toll or a donation.” American negotiators have flagged concerns they intend to raise with Omani officials. In Tehran’s view, however, the strait’s management is a sovereign prerogative. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran prefers a joint mechanism with Oman but warned that Tehran would act independently if no agreement is reached. An Iranian official told The New York Times that payments must be mandatory, while a regional diplomat maintained that under the Omani proposal they would be voluntary. Gulf capitals, led by Riyadh, argue that the pre-war status quo — in which no charges were levied — should be restored, with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan stating that the strait’s management “was working fine before the conflict.”

The dispute carries implications beyond the Persian Gulf. Maritime analysts note that a successful monetisation of a natural international strait would set a precedent for other choke points, from the Bosphorus to the Malacca Strait. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Iran has signed but not ratified, transit passage cannot be impeded and charges may be levied only for specific services rendered. Oman, a party to the convention, has publicly distinguished between an illegal transit toll and lawful fees for services such as navigational safety or mine clearance. Meanwhile, shipping traffic through Hormuz has surged, with Lloyd’s List data showing a 70 per cent week-on-week increase in transits in late June, largely along a southern corridor near Oman that Iran cannot easily control. Former US Navy commanders interpret recent Iranian attacks on vessels using that route as an effort to preserve Tehran’s leverage by keeping insurance premiums high enough to deter commercial operators.

Indirect US-Iran talks are set to resume in Doha, with Qatari and Pakistani mediators facilitating discussions focused on the strait and regional stability. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are in the Qatari capital, though officials say no direct high-level meetings with Iranian counterparts are scheduled. The 60-day interim arrangement, which also provides for the release of $3 billion in frozen Iranian assets, expires in late August, leaving a narrow window to reconcile fundamentally opposed visions of who governs the waterway and on what terms.