Iran and Oman have been negotiating a phased framework for a joint project to create a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, including a joint initiative to clear mines from the waterway. Qatar has backed the talks and its prime minister visited Tehran to encourage dialogue. Tehran's condition is that Washington first return to a memorandum of understanding agreed in June, and the US maintains it is not talking to Iran directly. This is the first concrete machinery for the durable reopening the energy thesis's invalidation condition requires.