Iran-Oman talks on Hormuz corridor enter new phase, despite US obstruction, sources tell Press TV

Tribune-grade sourcing on Iran-related diplomacy warrants a discount: state-aligned outlets have historically framed routine contacts as breakthroughs, and a 'new phase' of talks with Oman fits the long-standing pattern of Muscat acting as the principal back-channel between Tehran and Washington rather than as an independent diplomatic event. The operative variable in past Hormuz episodes has never been the talks themselves but whether they precede or follow physical interference with tanker traffic; episodes confined to rhetoric have tended to fade from crude pricing quickly, while those touching shipping have transmitted through freight rates, war-risk insurance premia and the prompt crude spread well before any change in headline flat price. The 'US obstruction' framing is standard posture from this source and carries limited signal on its own. What has mattered in comparable sequences is the follow-on: any move in insurance quotes for Gulf transits, naval escort or incident reporting in the strait, and whether Omani mediation produces a named next round rather than anonymous sourcing. Absent a shipping event, precedent is for a modest risk premium that decays as the story fails to escalate.