Tehran, Aug. 10 -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday said the Islamic Republic and Oman are developing new mechanisms to monitor the safe passage of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing West Asia crisis, while maintaining that continued US violations of an earlier Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) prevent the strategic waterway from being declared safe.

Addressing a press briefing, Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that the discussions between Tehran and Muscat were progressing "in a very smooth and constructive manner", with the two sides having reached an understanding on a traffic map through the Strait.

He said the proposed mechanisms would go beyond monitoring shipping and would also cover environmental is...