Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s seven-day roadmap for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, dealing a fresh blow to diplomatic efforts to end the conflict between Washington and Tehran.
“I reject their proposal,” the US president told reporters outside the White House on Saturday before leaving for Tennessee by helicopter.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Tehran had formally submitted the plan to the United States through Qatar and was awaiting Washington’s response.
The proposal would require the US to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, release an estimated 12 billion dollars in frozen Iranian assets and observe a regional ceasefire covering Lebanon and Yemen.
Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened and normal maritime traffic restored within seven days if the necessary conditions were met.
“The choice now rests with the United States. Iran does not accept coercion, threats or intimidation, and Iran will not surrender its sovereign rights under pressure,” he said at the United Nations in New York.
The waterway, which is central to global oil supplies, has become a key point of dispute in a conflict that has reached an impasse after nearly seven months. New mediation efforts took place this week, including talks between Araghchi and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that Tehran no longer trusted negotiations with Washington, arguing that previous talks had been followed by attacks and sanctions.
“We have no trust in the American side and do not know on what basis an understanding can be reached with it,” Mr Pezeshkian told Al Jazeera during a visit to New York for the UN General Assembly.
He denied that Iran was responsible for blocking the Strait of Hormuz, saying the US had “closed the routes before us”. He described the closure as “a natural response when routes are cut off to Iran”.
Mr Pezeshkian said the crisis could be resolved through negotiations rather than force, and that the waterway would reopen to commercial shipping if talks brought the war to an end.
US media reports had indicated before Mr Trump’s announcement that he would reject the roadmap. The Wall Street Journal also reported, citing unnamed US officials, that the president was privately sceptical Iran would meet his demands and expected a renewed bombing campaign after the November US midterm elections.
Mr Trump’s public stance on the diplomacy has varied, ranging from saying that talks were going well to threatening to “annihilate Iran”. The rejection of Tehran’s proposal leaves the conflict and the future of the vital shipping channel unresolved.
