Oman has been caught in geopolitical crossfire after Iran said it was coordinating with Muscat over the future management of the strait of Hormuz, including Tehran’s plans – opposed by the US – for fees to be paid by commercial shipping to a new Iranian government agency.

The Omani exclave of Musandam lies to the south of the contested waterway, which normally carries a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil traffic but has been blockaded for 10 weeks since since the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February.

The US has said repeatedly there can be no permanent solution to the blockade that involves the payment of a toll to the Iran, and claims that Oman holds a similar view.

Speaking in India on Friday, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, defined the strait of Hormuz as an exclusively Omani-Iranian waterway. “The strait is located in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman,” he said.…