Iran conditions reopening on US lifting naval blockade and waiving oil sanctions
Donald Trump’s reported rejection came as Iran awaited an official US response to its proposal, transmitted to the Americans through Qatari mediators at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi laid out the seven-day sequence to reporters outside the UN Security Council on Friday. Initial steps would take about four to five days to complete, he said; the strait would reopen on day six, and nuclear talks would begin on day seven. “The seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan,” Araghchi said. “If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared.”
But Trump is skeptical and has told staff he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November US midterm elections, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed US officials. Earlier, a different US official had characterized discussions with Iran through mediators as “positive and constructive.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, said Tehran was ready to negotiate on its nuclear programme and other matters. “Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks,” he said, adding that Iran had already agreed that “we’re not supposed to develop nuclear weapons.” Pezeshkian said Tehran would not accept “bullying or coercion.”
Iran also engaged Saudi Arabia regarding the strait, underscoring the stakes of a conflict that has disrupted oil flows through one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes and drawn in regional and world powers. The war began on 28 February with US and Israeli attacks and has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes since, killing thousands while degrading Iran’s conventional forces and damaging its economy.
Trump has previously said he was in no rush to reach a deal, even as high oil prices fuel inflation. On the Iranian side, there are questions about whether hardliners who dominate the security forces would accept compromises championed by moderates such as Pezeshkian.
The conflict’s regional spillover continued. Early on Saturday, Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted two drones launched by Iran-backed Houthis toward the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Iranian-aligned militias in Iraq have been blamed for a pipeline attack that temporarily took more Saudi oil off the market, while Iranian-backed Hezbollah has engaged Israeli forces in Lebanon.