Key takeaways:
- Trump rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping within seven days.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would await the US position through mediators before deciding its next step.
- The BBC reported that the strait has been effectively closed since war broke out in February; around a fifth of the world’s gas and oil supply usually passes through it.
Iran says it is waiting for an official response from US negotiators after President Donald Trump rejected its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping within seven days.
“I’m rejecting their deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday. He called the proposal “not acceptable” and said Iran wanted an immediate agreement because “they’re losing so badly”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged Trump’s remarks but said Tehran would wait to hear the US position through mediators before deciding what to do. “We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them,” he wrote on Telegram.
Araghchi also accused Trump of sending mixed signals. The president “has made many good statements, as well as many contradictory ones, which unfortunately we hear frequently”, he wrote.
The BBC reported that Iran raised both reopening the strait and ending hostilities during negotiations on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this past week. Speaking to reporters at the UN on Friday, Araghchi said an agreement was possible if “necessary conditions are met”. He said the conditions for opening the strait were the same as those set out in a memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran in June, according to the BBC.
The strait has been effectively closed since war broke out in February, the BBC reported. Around a fifth of the world’s gas and oil supply usually passes through the waterway. Trump said on Saturday that the US already had “total control” of the strait and that “massive amounts of oil” were passing through it.
Oman, which has mediated between the US and Iran, called for continued dialogue, the BBC reported. Its foreign minister, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi, told the UN General Debate that “all parties” should work with Oman to safeguard navigation through the strait.
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker backed Trump’s rejection. Speaking to Fox News on Saturday, he described Iran’s proposal as “half measures” and “illusory deals to make themselves look good on the world stage”. “President Trump’s right to reject it,” he said, according to the BBC.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Saturday that US economic pressure was taking a toll on Tehran. In a post on X, he said Turkey, Oman and the United Arab Emirates had halted flights by various Iranian airlines, while some banks in the UAE and Turkey had stopped transactions with Iran, the BBC reported.
The Trump administration calls its economic blockade of Iran “Operation Economic Outcast” and is using sanctions to press Tehran to stop attacks on vessels in the strait, according to the BBC. The broadcaster also reported that some economists question whether the latest sanctions will work, saying their effectiveness depends on Iran’s major trading partners. China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, has ignored previous US sanctions and continued doing business with Tehran.
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