Araghchi Called Faisal bin Farhan on Monday; Saudi Jets Bombed His Allies on Tuesday

IRNA reported that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate telephone calls on Monday evening with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, focused on “advancing diplomatic efforts to establish regional stability and address insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz,” with the ministers emphasising “the necessity of strengthening cooperation.” The readouts released no further detail. CNBC carried the substance from Araghchi’s Telegram channel via machine translation. Pakistan Observer noted the call with Faisal bin Farhan came shortly after Riyadh announced it had intercepted drones aimed at its oil facilities. On the Omani track, Bloomberg reported on 27 July that Iranian and Omani negotiators “are trying to reach an agreement to restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, according to people familiar with the matter.” The Wall Street Journal, as relayed by the Jerusalem Post, reported Omani officials proposed a joint body to oversee maritime security and search-and-rescue in the strait.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called the negotiations “productive” and said technical and political consultations continue; an Omani delegation arrived in Tehran on Friday 24 July. The gap between the two sides is arithmetical. Paul Musgrave of Georgetown University in Qatar told Al Jazeera that under the Strait of Malacca model, voluntary contributions raise about $70m annually — far short of the $1m per ship that Al Jazeera says Tehran has “reportedly” proposed as a Hormuz service fee. All of it runs against a clock. The Islamabad memorandum signed on 17 June, whose 14-point text CNN published after what it described as an outcry that the text had not been released, commits the parties in point three to “negotiate and reach a final agreement within a maximum period of 60 days, extendable by mutual consent.” That expires on Sunday 16 August. Türkiye Today reports the memorandum has been suspended since early July.

Assessment: The two tracks are not sequential; they are simultaneous, and Monday’s phone call is the proof. Tehran’s chief diplomat sought out Riyadh hours before Riyadh’s aircraft struck the militias CENTCOM says the IRGC directs. Read that as evidence the Gulf channel is being kept open deliberately by both capitals, not as evidence either is bluffing. Javad Heiran-Nia of the Persian Gulf Studies Group makes the structural point: the memorandum was built to stop shooting and reopen the strait, not to settle the dispute, and mediators lack instruments to settle it absent a shift in the balance of power. Which is an argument for more limited military engagements before 16 August, not fewer. Treat the $1m-per-ship figure as unsourced.