Trump rejects Iran’s seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
Tehran offered to reopen the vital oil and gas waterway within a week if Washington met its conditions. On Saturday, President Trump said no.
What we know: President Donald Trump says he has turned down an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and pause fighting in the Middle East. “I reject their proposal,” he told reporters outside the White House on Saturday, September 26, before leaving for Tennessee, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters.
The offer came a day earlier. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had sent Washington a seven-day plan through mediator Qatar. “If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, and normal maritime passage restored within seven days,” he said, as quoted by Al Jazeera and The Hill. He added that “the choice now rests with the United States.”
The conditions: According to the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, Iran asked the U.S. to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observe a regional ceasefire that would include Lebanon. Al Jazeera reported the plan also called for the release of an estimated $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets. Araghchi said the demands were not new and were already contained in a memorandum of understanding the two countries signed in June, the BBC reported.
Trump’s reasoning: Trump argued Iran wants the strait open because it needs the revenue. “They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” he said, according to Reuters. The BBC reported he also claimed the U.S. already has “total control” of the waterway.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the rejection late Friday, citing unnamed U.S. officials. The paper said Trump had privately told staff he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November midterm elections, according to Reuters and CNBC summaries of that report. ReadingDlaw News has not independently confirmed those private remarks.
Why the strait matters: Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply normally flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the BBC noted. It has been effectively closed since the war began in late February. Shipping analytics firm Kpler, cited by Reuters, recorded a recent 10-day average of about 18 transits a day.
The pressure is also building on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. On Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles and drones aimed at Saudi Arabia, CNBC and the BBC reported.
What is still unknown: It is not yet clear whether Washington has sent a formal written reply through Qatar, or whether talks through mediators will continue. As of publication, we had not seen a formal Iranian response to Trump’s Saturday remarks. On Friday, Araghchi said “peace cannot be built through threats of annihilation,” after Trump used his UN speech this week to raise the prospect of annihilating the Islamic Republic, the BBC reported.
What this means: For now, the strait stays largely shut and there is no agreed path to a ceasefire. Expect continued volatility in energy prices — and watch for any formal U.S. response through Qatar, which would signal whether diplomacy is paused or over.
Sources
- BBC News — Trump rejects Iran deal to reopen Strait of Hormuz in seven days
- Reuters (via ThePrint) — Trump rejects Iranian proposal to open Hormuz and end fighting
- Al Jazeera — Trump rejects Iran’s seven-day roadmap to reopen Strait of Hormuz
- Associated Press (via The Washington Post) — Iran proposes a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in 7 days
- CNBC — Trump rejects Iran’s conditional ceasefire proposal, WSJ reports
- The Hill — Trump rejects Iran’s 7-day plan to end war