Before the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran, Khasab was better known to many Iranians as a stop on informal maritime routes used by fishermen, tourists and fast boats moving between Oman and Iran’s southern coast.
Among those boats were vessels known locally as shooti boats, a term borrowed from Iranian smuggling slang. In Iran, shooti usually refers to high-speed cars that carry untaxed or smuggled goods across long distances, often traveling in groups and avoiding stops.
Around Khasab, traders and locals use the same word for fast boats that make quick crossings to places such as Qeshm and other Iranian coastal points.
For years, the route was associated mostly with informal trade and small-scale smuggling. Iranian cigarettes, alcohol and hashish were moved from Iran to Oman, while consumer goods, home appliances and luxury items were brought back from Oman to Iran.
Iranian fishing boats around Khasab were also a familiar part of the area’s maritime landscape.
A port at the mouth of Hormuz
Khasab is the capital of Oman’s Musandam governorate, an exclave separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates.
Its geography gives it unusual importance: the port sits near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, about 35 kilometers from Iran, surrounded by dry mountains and fjord-like inlets that before the war were mostly associated with leisure boats and maritime tours.
The blockade has changed the function of the route.
With main passages in the Strait of Hormuz closed to Iranian ships and vessels linked to the Islamic Republic, Khasab has shifted from a local secondary route into one of several alternatives for moving goods into Iran.
Cargoes that previously traveled through standard commercial channels and UAE ports are now, in parts of the transport network, being redirected through Oman and Khasab.
How the route works
A trader told Iran International that since the ceasefire, Iran-bound cargo is first carried from UAE ports to Khasab on vessels flying non-Iranian flags.
The goods are then unloaded at Khasab’s pier onto Iranian vessels, which take them to Iranian ports outside the main controlled routes.
A significant share of the movement is carried by landing craft, the trader said.
Those vessels are useful for the route because they can move through shallow waters and dock at smaller piers. Some can carry hundreds of tons of cargo, and in some cases close to 1,000 tons, including containers, vehicles and heavier freight.
The goods moving through Khasab are not limited to one category, according to trade sources.
They can include cars, spare parts, home appliances, consumer goods, hygiene products and some items linked to petroleum products.
A costly workaround
The route is significantly more expensive than Iran’s previous channels.
One trader told Iran International that moving goods through Khasab costs about six times more than the earlier route from the UAE to the southwestern port city of Khorramshahr.
Still, the trader said the higher cost has become one of the few remaining options for many businesses trying to continue operating.
Local officials in Iran have also referred to the growing use of Omani ports.
Khorshid Gazderazi, head of the Bushehr Chamber of Commerce, said on Thursday that the UAE had previously served as Iran’s main hub for exports and imports, but that after the war began and loading and container departures were disrupted, using Omani ports was placed on the agenda.
He named Khasab, Suwaiq, Shinas and Muscat among the ports being used to move goods.
Morad Zerehi, governor of Bandar Khamir in Hormozgan province, also announced a plan called “boat transport” for the “legal transfer of basic goods from Omani ports” to the county.
A route advertised online
The shift is also visible on Iranian social media, where accounts selling goods have begun advertising the Oman route.
Some accounts have posted videos of goods being moved from Oman, presenting the route as proof that imports into Iran are continuing despite the war and maritime restrictions.
They market Khasab as a new way to bring goods into Iran and encourage customers to keep buying.
But the route also shows the limits of Iran’s workaround.
For traders, Khasab offers a way to keep goods moving. For Iran’s trade network, it is also a sign of how the blockade has pushed ordinary commerce into longer, more expensive and less predictable routes.