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... "We will definitely have special considerations for China, because China is a friendly country," Fazli said Saturday at the World Peace Forum in Beijing, without specifying what those concessions would entail. "Special treatment we should award to countries which are friendly to us."

The future management of the Strait of Hormuz is among several contentious issues being discussed as part of negotiations to secure a permanent end to the conflict. Iran effectively closed the strait when the US and Israel began airstrikes in late February, with traffic only recently picking up following an interim peace deal signed last month.

At least eight ships attempting to leave the Persian Gulf along the Omani coast turned back between Friday and Saturday, in the latest sign that reopening the strait remains fraught with complexity. ...