Iraq agrees an Oman-side Hormuz lane for its oil with Washington

According to a Reuters report published by Arab News, Hussein put the cost to Iraq of the Iran war and the export disruption at 60 billion dollars. The terms of the understanding, the lane's coordinates and Iran's role in the arrangement were not disclosed. A link added to the same report by gCaptain notes that Iran had earlier allowed some Iraqi tankers through the strait. The October figure rests on Iraqi energy officials and could not be verified against independent tanker-tracking data.

In the same interview Hussein confirmed that the US Treasury wants all border crossings with Iran closed except two, one of them in the Kurdistan region. He said closing all of them would be difficult and that talks were continuing. Last month Iraq closed the al-Shib crossing for a security review and to install anti-smuggling screening equipment. Washington is thus granting Baghdad easier passage at sea while demanding a price in pressure on Iran over land.

For Pillar VI the constraint is not volume but the terms on which a barrel passes and whose risk it carries. According to an Insurance Business report of 14 October, Marsh was quoting additional war premium for tankers at 6–10% of hull value, against roughly 0.25% before the war. A US-approved lane could sharpen route definitions in war risk policies. As of 8 November, however, no broker data showed premiums falling.