Iranian offer mirrors June agreement that collapsed over wording
President Trump said on Saturday that he was rejecting an Iranian plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, calling the proposal unacceptable as he departed the White House without elaborating on his reasoning.
“I like making a deal too,” Trump said. “But, I’m not — that deal would not be acceptable.”
“They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” Trump added.
The plan was conveyed to the United States by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during meetings on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Araghchi told reporters on Friday that Iran had communicated the proposal to Washington through Qatar, describing it as a “concrete seven-day plan” to reopen the waterway.
“If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days,” Araghchi said. “The choice now rests with the United States.”
Iran initially closed the strait after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. The repeated closures have caused major disruptions to the world’s oil supply. Trump did not specify which conditions he found unacceptable or which elements of the proposal prompted the rejection.
The Iranian proposal closely tracks a memorandum of understanding the United States and Iran agreed to in June. That deal would have temporarily halted fighting and restarted ceasefire talks. Under its terms, Iran would have received relief from a U.S. naval blockade; the United States would have eased sanctions and released frozen Iranian assets. In return, Iran promised not to seek a nuclear weapon and committed to reopening the strait.
The June agreement collapsed after disputes over the memorandum’s vague wording, particularly language related to who would control the strait. The United States and Iran resumed strikes soon after.
Araghchi said the current proposal did not require new commitments from Washington.
“The actions that the United States should take are not new,” Araghchi said. “They are all already in the MoU. They are already under the commitments of the United States. So we don’t see any difficulty to implement them.”
In a prerecorded interview with CBS set to air Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would abide by its commitments if the United States accepted the proposal. Pezeshkian said Washington needed to demonstrate that “it does not intend to overthrow our government or our administration.”
“If the United States agrees to proceed in that way, everything will return to the way it was before,” Pezeshkian said. “Because right now, it’s the United States that has blocked our way, and naturally, Iran has also blocked the way from its side. These are things that both sides need to open up first; then we can sit down at the negotiating table and discuss other issues at hand.”
Pezeshkian said Iran would allow United Nations nuclear inspectors into the country if the United States accepted the proposal to reopen the strait and resume nuclear negotiations.