This detail matters less for immediate price action and more for how traders should read the ceiling on any near term de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz. If Washington genuinely prefers to keep its own bilateral leverage reserved for Tehran's nuclear program rather than engaging directly on Hormuz access, that suggests the shipping and tolls track will continue to run through Oman and the Gulf states largely without direct US involvement, for better or worse. That could mean slower progress on a durable reopening framework, since the party with the most military leverage over the strait is choosing not to anchor its diplomacy there, but it could also mean less risk of the US complicating an Oman brokered deal with separate nuclear related demands. Either way, this points to continued reliance on regional diplomacy rather than a US-Iran breakthrough as the more likely path to easing the current oil risk premium, reinforcing why postponements like the one already covered are consequential rather than incidental.---Earlier:Weekend: Tanker hit by projectile in Hormuz as fresh attacks reported at seaOil gap higher: Saudi pipeline shut after drone attack as Hormuz meeting is postponed---Washington appears content to let Iran, Oman and the Gulf states handle Hormuz diplomacy on their own, while keeping its own leverage with Tehran reserved for the nuclear question.Summary:Three sources familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump administration officials have privately told Gulf region counterparts they want future US-Iran negotiations to focus on Iran's nuclear program rather than reopening the Strait of Hormuz.The US was notably absent from the now postponed Monday meeting in Oman between Iran and Gulf Arab states, which had been intended to discuss an Omani plan for restoring regular tanker traffic through the strait.Diplomats had reportedly been hopeful the gathering could build momentum after months of private talks on a legal framework allowing Iran and Oman to collect fees for safe passage.The Omani framework reportedly centres on voluntary payments for navigational safety and environmental protection, since outright Iranian transit tolls remain widely rejected by other parties.President Trump has maintained that the current state of the waterway is acceptable for now, citing the US military's tanker escort operation as sufficient in the interim.Trump administration officials have privately told counterparts in the Gulf region that they want any future negotiations with Iran to centre on Tehran's nuclear program rather than on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to three sources familiar with the matter cited by CNN.The disclosure helps explain a notable absence from Monday's now postponed meeting in Oman between Iran and Gulf Arab states, a gathering intended to advance an Omani brokered plan for restoring regular tanker traffic through the strait. The United States was not due to take part in that meeting, despite shipping through Hormuz remaining severely disrupted and despite Washington maintaining a naval escort operation for tankers transiting the waterway. President Trump has said the current state of the strait is acceptable for now given that military escort presence, suggesting the administration sees no urgent need to insert itself into the Hormuz specific diplomatic track.According to CNN's sourcing, diplomats had been hopeful the Oman meeting could build momentum after months of private discussions over a legal framework that would allow Iran and Oman to collect fees from vessels using the strait. The emerging Omani framework reportedly leans toward voluntary payments tied to navigational safety and environmental protection, an approach with more traction among regional parties than outright Iranian transit tolls, which remain widely rejected. That negotiation appears to be proceeding largely as a matter between Tehran, Muscat, and other Gulf states, rather than one Washington has sought to steer directly.The throughline from CNN's reporting is that the Trump administration appears willing to let Hormuz specific diplomacy run its own course through Oman and the Gulf states, while reserving its own bilateral leverage with Iran for the nuclear file specifically. That separation of tracks could shape how quickly, or slowly, a durable shipping arrangement for the strait comes together, since the party with the most direct military leverage over the waterway is not using that leverage as a bargaining chip in the Hormuz negotiations themselves.The distinction is likely to matter for how the current diplomatic setback is read. With the Oman meeting already postponed following the attack on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, and with Washington positioned as a bystander rather than a participant in the shipping talks, the path to easing the standoff over Hormuz appears to rest primarily on whether Iran, Oman, and the wider Gulf can reach consensus among themselves, independent of any parallel progress, or lack of it, on the broader US-Iran nuclear relationship. This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.