The visit will focus on "maritime safety" in the waterway and is "a continuation of the consultations we have initiated with Oman over the past one or two months," said Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry.
From the American side, the tone is not unexpectedly different. Late Friday evening, the AP reported, citing sources, that the US had demanded that Iran make a public statement that the Strait of Hormuz is open and that there would be no further attacks on ships in the strait.
Senior US administration officials say an internal power struggle in Tehran is behind the parties' difficulties in maintaining a deal. The sources say a hardline, uncompromising faction within the Iranian power elite that is trying to sabotage the ceasefire is behind the Iranian attacks on three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz this week.
