{"text":[[{"start":0,"text":"The US Treasury secretary signalled Washington and Tehran could reach a deal over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday, sending oil lower and pushing US stocks to a record high."}],[{"start":22.92,"text":"Scott Bessent told CNBC on Tuesday that talks with the Iranians were ongoing. “There is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the strait and move towards a more normalised position in this conflict,” he said."}],[{"start":36.36,"text":"Two people briefed on the diplomatic push for a deal told the FT that Iranian and Omani negotiators had agreed on a temporary arrangement to direct shipping through the strait, but they added that Iran’s top leadership still had to sign off on the deal."}],[{"start":51.32,"text":"Under the arrangement, vessels would enter the strait through Iranian waters and leave through a channel that is mostly in Omani waters. Initially, Iran would send vessels including oil and LNG tankers through the waterway to ensure it is free of mines and safe before the strait opens to other shipping, one of the people said."}],[{"start":70,"text":"If an agreement on the strait were reached, the US would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and reinstate a waiver to allow Iran to sell oil, the person said."}],[{"start":78.48,"text":"The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropped below $80 per barrel for the first time in three weeks shortly after Bessent’s comments before extending its decline to settle 5.3 per cent lower at $79.36."}],[{"start":94.08,"text":"Renewed hopes about a deal also helped buoy stocks, pushing Wall Street’s S&P 500 1.8 per cent higher to close at a record high. The Nasdaq 100 soared 3.3 per cent as investors also welcomed solid results from Palantir."}],[{"start":109.8,"text":"Iran and Oman have been negotiating directly for weeks on a new arrangement to manage shipping in the strait, which has become the key battleground between the US and the Islamic republic."}],[{"start":119.78,"text":"Esmaeil Baghaei, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Tuesday that negotiations to designate “safe inbound and outbound shipping routes” in the strait were under way between Iran and Oman."}],[{"start":131.8,"text":"Baghaei said the corridor should ensure the “sovereign rights as well as national security considerations” of both countries. He added that discussions at both “technical and political levels” were “positive”."}],[{"start":143.64,"text":"Securing a deal between Tehran and Muscat is deemed critical to preventing a further escalation and getting Iran and the US to resume negotiations on ending their war, which is in its sixth month."}],[{"start":155.56,"text":"Mediators have previously hoped that the negotiations were about to make a breakthrough, only for the process to hit a setback."}],[{"start":162.714,"text":"The US and Iran had signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 under which they agreed to extend an April ceasefire by 60 days. During that period, shipping through the waterway was supposed to gradually return to prewar levels without Iran charging a toll."}],[{"start":178,"text":"But the deal unravelled after Iran attacked ships transiting through the strait’s so-called southern route, which traces Oman’s coastline."}],[{"start":185.12,"text":"Tehran, which has sought to retain control over the chokepoint as its main source of leverage with the US, said the ships were using an “unauthorised” channel. The US responded by striking Iran, which prompted Iranian forces to retaliate by firing missiles and drones at bases across the region used by American forces."}],[{"start":203.92,"text":"The hostilities set off an escalatory spiral of tit-for-tat attacks that stoked fears in the region of a return to full-blown war."}],[{"start":211.86,"text":"Diplomats hope that if a deal to reopen the strait were agreed, Iran and the US would then return to talks on a final settlement."}],[{"start":218.56,"text":"The diplomatic push to get an agreement had been delayed by the shifting positions of both Iran and the US, as well as Omani concerns about the language in the agreement, the people briefed on the talks said."}],[{"start":228.82,"text":"Muscat, which has sought to maintain its neutrality throughout the war, has been worried that it could be seen to violate its obligations under the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, while it has also wanted to protect its sovereignty over its territorial waters."}],[{"start":242.44,"text":"However, those issues had been ironed out and negotiators were now waiting for Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and the republic’s national security committee to approve the deal, one of the persons briefed on the talks said."}],[{"start":256.84,"text":"Oman had come under pressure from the US to reach a deal with Iran on the strait, the people said."}],[{"start":262.18,"text":"The temporary arrangement for the strait would last for the duration of the extension of the April ceasefire."}],[{"start":267.48,"text":"Iran, Oman and other Gulf states are supposed to discuss the future status of the strait, with Tehran insisting that it will want to charge ships “service fees”."}],[{"start":277.32,"text":"Gulf states have rejected paying tolls. Oman has proposed an arrangement similar to that used in the Strait of Malacca, under which ships pass toll-free, but Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia established a fund two decades ago for voluntary contributions from non-profit organisations to support “navigational safety and environmental protection”."}],[{"start":297.349,"text":"US President Donald Trump said on Monday that talks with Tehran had resumed, despite Iran having earlier dismissed suggestions that it had restarted negotiations with the US after a fractious few weeks in which targeted attacks between the two sides had escalated."}],[{"start":312,"text":"“They’re going on right now,” Trump said on Monday, adding that “phase one” of the talks would fully reopen the strait “literally by tomorrow”. A second phase of talks would focus on “de-nuclearization”, he said, adding that this “will take a little while”."}],[{"start":326.72,"text":"Additional reporting by George Steer in New York"}],[{"start":334.2,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785892982_5321.mp3"}