Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has met Qatari mediators in New York over a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as the United States insisted that any agreement must address Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Araghchi said the mediators would take the ideas discussed to Washington and that he hoped to receive a final US response by Tuesday. He was due to return to Tehran within hours rather than remain in New York to await the reply.
“We talked about ideas and how to find solutions to fulfil Iran’s conditions and how to implement those conditions,” he told Iranian state media. “They had some ideas, and we had a discussion that they will also present to the American side.”
He said the discussions formed part of an existing exchange of messages conducted through Qatari and Pakistani mediators, which had become “a more serious form” since Iran submitted its proposal.
The plan, announced at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, calls for the US to release frozen Iranian funds, lift sanctions and end its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Araghchi said those measures could be completed within four or five days, allowing the strait to reopen and negotiations on a final agreement to begin by the seventh day.
US President Donald Trump rejected the proposal on Saturday, describing it as “unacceptable”.
US says nuclear programme must be addressed
A US official said indirect discussions were continuing and described them as “positive and constructive”. But the official said there would be no agreement to end the war unless Iran’s nuclear programme was dealt with.
The official said Mr Trump was prepared to ease sanctions and release Iran’s frozen funds in return for progress on nuclear issues. Iran had indicated it was flexible on the nuclear question, the official said, but the two sides remained divided over the timing of their commitments and which side should act first.
The official also accused Tehran of breaking a memorandum of understanding signed in June by firing on commercial vessels. Iran denies that allegation and says Washington broke its own commitments by failing to halt Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and by seeking alternative shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran closed the strait shortly after the US and Israel launched their offensive on February 28. Before the war, the waterway handled about 20 per cent of global oil and gas supplies, while attacks on vessels have since sharply reduced shipping and pushed oil prices above 100 US dollars a barrel.
Crude exports from major Middle Eastern producers nevertheless recovered to 12.8 million barrels per day in September, their highest level since the war began, although that remained below the 18.8 million barrels per day recorded in February.
Some vessels have been using a route supervised by the US military along the coast of Oman, travelling at night with tracking systems switched off and transferring oil to tankers outside the strait. Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, said American forces had assisted 2,000 transits carrying more than one billion barrels of oil in recent months.
The US has also imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and threatened secondary sanctions against airports and companies dealing with Iranian airlines. The United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Oman have cancelled related flights.
Trump predicts US victory
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr Trump said US officials had also been in contact with mediators and maintained that Washington would prevail.
“We’re going to win,” he said. “It’s going to go pretty quickly.” He added that petrol prices would fall once the US had won the war.
Iranian officials have meanwhile adopted a defiant position. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the era of foreign domination was over in a message marking the Iran-Iraq War and Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in 2024.
Major-General Ali Abdollahi, the armed forces chief of staff, warned that Iran and allied forces would deliver a “decisive and devastating response” to any threat against the country.
Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the Strait of Hormuz remained closed and that Iranian forces were prepared to prevent enemy forces from entering the country.
