Trump Rejects Iran’s Seven-Day Plan to Reopen Strait of Hormuz

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s seven-day roadmap aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending fighting, marking a setback for diplomatic efforts to halt the conflict.

 

 

 

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced the proposal on September 25, saying Tehran had transmitted the plan to Washington through Qatar during the United Nations General Assembly.

Under the proposal, Iran said the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened within seven days if Washington accepted several conditions concerning military pressure, sanctions and regional fighting.

Araghchi said the timetable would begin once the United States formally accepted the roadmap, with initial measures taking several days before normal maritime passage could resume.

The proposal called for Washington to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports and waive sanctions affecting Iranian oil sales as part of the initial steps.

Iran also requested the release of approximately $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, according to details published after Araghchi outlined the proposal in New York.

The plan additionally called for a ceasefire covering the wider region, including conflicts involving Lebanon and Yemen, before Iran would restore normal shipping through Hormuz.

According to Araghchi’s timetable, the strait would reopen on the sixth day, followed by renewed U.S.-Iran negotiations on the seventh day concerning longer-term issues.

Those negotiations would include Iran’s nuclear program, building on an earlier memorandum of understanding that Washington and Tehran had discussed before the latest escalation.

The Strait of Hormuz is central to the dispute because it is a major energy shipping route, making its prolonged disruption an important concern for international markets.

Trump, however, rejected the proposal publicly on September 26 while speaking to reporters outside the White House before departing for a campaign appearance in Tennessee.

“I reject their proposal,” Trump said, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera, confirming that Washington would not accept Tehran’s seven-day roadmap in its current form.

Trump also argued that Iran urgently wanted the waterway reopened because of the economic consequences of the continuing restrictions, according to Reuters’ account of his remarks.

The rejection came after earlier diplomatic contacts involving American and Iranian officials, with mediators attempting to determine whether negotiations could produce a framework for ending hostilities.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian subsequently said Tehran remained open to negotiations but expressed distrust toward Washington following previous rounds of talks and subsequent military action.

Pezeshkian said Iran did not want war and maintained that the crisis could ultimately be resolved through negotiations rather than continued military pressure.

The latest diplomatic setback follows months of fighting that have affected regional security, energy markets and commercial shipping around the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump had previously indicated that he expected diplomacy to remain possible, while also saying he was not under immediate pressure to reach an agreement with Tehran.

For Iran, reopening Hormuz has become closely connected to negotiations over sanctions, military pressure and the future of its nuclear program, according to officials familiar with the proposal.

The latest development therefore leaves the seven-day roadmap suspended, with no agreement announced between Washington and Tehran and uncertainty remaining over the next stage of diplomacy.