US-Iran Hormuz Talks Advance as India Condemns Strike on Ship Carrying 13 Indians

The Strait of Hormuz moved closer to reopening on Wednesday after Iran and Oman announced that an agreement on shipping coordinates through the vital waterway had been reached, with officials saying a joint statement was in its final drafting stage. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the negotiations with Muscat had been professional and forward moving over the past several days, and that a deal would be struck if certain third parties did not obstruct the process. Baghaei was careful to stress that the Oman agreement was strictly a bilateral coastal state arrangement and had nothing to do with whether the strait ultimately reopens or remains closed, insisting Tehran was not holding any direct talks with Washington and placing blame on the United States for the waterway's continued disruption.

President Donald Trump struck an optimistic tone late Tuesday, telling reporters in California that discussions with Iran were moving along very nicely and that an announcement could arrive within 48 hours, possibly as early as Wednesday. He reiterated that Washington would not accept any Iranian toll on vessels transiting the strait, warning Tehran of a harsh response if it backed out of commitments again.

In a related diplomatic development, the United States Treasury on Wednesday lifted sanctions on Iraqi carrier Fly Baghdad and two of its aircraft, reversing a 2024 designation that accused the airline of supporting Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force. A Treasury official said the airline had demonstrated major changes to its operations, though sanctions on its former owner remain in place. The gesture came as Washington and Tehran appeared to edge closer to the Hormuz arrangement.

Elsewhere, a fresh round of United States sponsored talks between Lebanon and Israel continued for a second day in Rome, with a senior Lebanese official telling reporters the session was unlikely to yield further Israeli withdrawals from southern Lebanon. Israeli officials have repeatedly ruled out additional pullbacks until Hezbollah is fully disarmed.

Even as diplomacy accelerated across three fronts, the human cost of the wider conflict struck closer home for India. An Indian flagged cargo vessel, the MSV Faize Noore Oliya, sank in the Red Sea on Tuesday after being hit by a projectile about thirteen nautical miles south of Houthi controlled Hodeidah. All 14 crew members, including 13 Indian seafarers, were safely rescued by the Yemeni Coast Guard and brought to the Port of Mokha without injury. Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal condemned the strike as an unprovoked attack on a defenceless vessel, and India's Ministry of External Affairs described the continuing assaults on commercial shipping as deeply worrisome, demanding that free and unimpeded navigation be restored at the earliest under international law.

The incident underlines the scale of India's exposure to the widening maritime crisis. According to the latest BIMCO ICS Seafarer Workforce Report, India has become the world's second largest supplier of maritime labour, contributing 311,936 professionals, or 12.16 percent of the entire global seafaring workforce, trailing only the Philippines.

Separately, a series of explosions shook Dubai's Jebel Ali industrial zone and port, located roughly 30 kilometres southwest of the city, in the early hours of Wednesday. Emirati officials confirmed at least seven blasts within about twenty minutes, sending thick columns of smoke over one of the busiest artificial harbours and container ports outside East Asia. Thermal imagery pointed to a fire near a fuel storage facility, and two individuals were arrested for filming the incident. Iranian state broadcasters suggested the blasts may have followed a missile launch from Yemen, a claim that Emirati authorities have not verified.