Iran Says US Blockade Keeps Hormuz Shipping Unsafe Ahead of Oman Talks

The framing matters more than the meeting itself: Tehran is tying safe passage through Hormuz to the lifting of US maritime pressure, effectively making commercial shipping risk a bargaining chip in a wider standoff. That shifts the question from naval security to diplomacy, since any corridor guarantee would depend on US-Iran de-escalation rather than on Gulf states alone. For energy and freight markets, the practical signal is that Hormuz risk premia will keep tracking political talks, not tanker traffic. Whether the Oman meeting produces a concrete corridor arrangement, or only another statement of intent, is the open question to watch.