Iran Moves to Bar Warships From Hormuz as Trump Tightens Economic Noose on Tehran

WASHINGTON — The battle over the Strait of Hormuz is entering a dangerous new phase, with Iran attempting to shut military vessels out of one of the world’s most strategically important waterways just as President Donald Trump unleashes a sweeping new campaign to economically isolate Tehran.

Iran and Oman have reached an understanding on a proposed framework for managing traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, with Tehran insisting that military vessels would be excluded if the arrangement becomes binding. The waterway remains largely shut nearly six months after the Iran war began.

The proposal would establish a temporary commercial shipping corridor through the strait. Ships entering the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman would travel entirely through Iranian territorial waters, while outbound commercial traffic would move partly through Iranian waters and partly through Omani waters.

Iran and Oman are expected to continue negotiations over the next 30 to 60 days in an attempt to establish a permanent arrangement. The emerging framework also involves mine-clearing efforts in the waterway.

But Tehran is attaching a major condition.

Under Iran's stated position, military vessels would not be permitted to transit the Strait of Hormuz under the proposed arrangement.

That puts the emerging plan on a potential collision course with Washington.

The Trump administration has opposed portions of the developing agreement, including aspects of joint Iranian-Omani management of outbound traffic. Trump has already issued a severe warning to Oman against obstructing American efforts to reopen the strait.

The confrontation is about far more than shipping lanes.

Before the war began, roughly one-fifth of the world's traded oil moved through the Strait of Hormuz, making the narrow passage one of the most important energy arteries on Earth. Its prolonged disruption has transformed control of the strait into a central strategic and economic front of the conflict.

Iran's attempt to dictate whether military vessels can use the passage now raises an even larger question: whether Tehran can turn wartime disruption into a permanent new security arrangement governing access to the Persian Gulf.

Washington has little reason to accept that proposition quietly.

Trump has previously declared that the United States — not Iran — controls access to the strait through its naval blockade, while acknowledging that Iranian mines can disrupt navigation. The administration has maintained that American military power remains positioned to prevent Tehran from dictating the future of the waterway.

And Trump is now attacking Iran from another direction.

On Monday, his administration launched Operation Economic Outcast, an expansive financial campaign designed to sever Iran's remaining economic lifelines.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the initiative as an economic offensive aimed at isolating Tehran globally. The new measures broaden sanctions exposure across areas including shipping, technology, aviation, gold and digital assets.

Nearly 60 Iran-linked entities were targeted in the latest sanctions action, including entities connected to China and Hong Kong. The administration is attempting to squeeze the revenue streams supporting Iran's military, missile, nuclear and oil operations.

China, however, remains the biggest obstacle to Washington's economic strategy.

Beijing is Iran's largest trading partner and leading oil customer, receiving more than 80% of Iranian oil shipments, according to current reporting. China has rejected Washington's unilateral sanctions policy and warned that its economic relationship with Tehran should not be disrupted.

That creates a complicated test for Trump.

The president wants to choke off Tehran's remaining sources of revenue while simultaneously managing relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a planned Washington meeting next month.

But the administration's message to Iran itself is considerably less complicated: the military campaign is now being reinforced by a financial one.

The timing makes Tehran's Hormuz proposal particularly significant.

Iran is attempting to negotiate the rules governing the world's most important energy chokepoint while the United States is simultaneously trying to deprive the Iranian government of the economic resources it needs to sustain the confrontation.

For Tehran, control over access to Hormuz remains one of its strongest remaining pressure points.

For Washington, allowing Iran to emerge from the war with an effective veto over American or allied military passage would carry consequences extending far beyond the current conflict.

The next 30 to 60 days of negotiations with Oman could therefore determine much more than the route commercial tankers use.

They could determine who gets to set the rules in the Strait of Hormuz — and Trump has given little indication that he intends to surrender that decision to Tehran.