New Delhi: The US president, Donald Trump, has rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days in return for American concessions, leaving renewed efforts to resolve the conflict without an agreement. Tehran maintained that diplomacy remained the way forward, but its refusal to abandon its conditions underscored the continuing disagreement over sanctions, maritime access and a regional ceasefire.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, Trump said he wanted an agreement but considered the Iranian offer unacceptable. His remarks came after diplomatic exchanges around the United Nations General Assembly in New York had raised the possibility of progress towards restoring shipping through the strategically important waterway.
Under the proposal, Washington would lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observe a ceasefire that included Lebanon. Iran, in turn, would reopen the strait and resume negotiations on its nuclear programme within seven days.
The offer therefore tied the restoration of maritime traffic to relief from restrictions on Iran’s own exports and a wider cessation of hostilities. Its inclusion of Lebanon also placed the proposed settlement beyond a narrowly defined agreement between Washington and Tehran over shipping or nuclear negotiations alone.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran had seen Trump’s initial public response but had not yet received an official answer through mediators. He said Iran would maintain its conditions and cited Trump’s record of contradictory statements, distinguishing the public rejection from a formal diplomatic communication.
That distinction left room for further exchanges without indicating that either government had softened its position. Iran continued to favour a diplomatic solution, while a senior Iranian official signalled no flexibility over the country’s nuclear programme.
Earlier deal casts shadow over talks
The latest initiative follows the collapse of an earlier attempt to halt the fighting and begin nuclear negotiations in June. American and Iranian representatives held three hours of indirect discussions through mediators on September 22, as RNA Media had reported, renewing a channel that had been inactive since that agreement unravelled.
A significant unresolved issue concerns the authority Iran would exercise over ships using Hormuz once passage resumed. The Washington Post reported that Tehran interpreted the June arrangement as allowing Iranian control over the strait, an interpretation rejected by the United States and its regional allies.
The practical consequences of that disagreement had already become apparent in June, when Reuters reported an Iranian maritime advisory requiring vessels to obtain passage permits. The advisory illustrated why an announcement that the strait was reopening would still leave important questions about transit conditions, commercial certainty and the treatment of vessels seeking passage.
The negotiating positions suggest that sequencing remains another obstacle: Iran wants restrictions on its economy lifted alongside measures restoring navigation, while Washington continues to use economic pressure to seek concessions. Earlier in the week, Trump called for Iran’s economic isolation and suggested that an agreement might follow the US midterm elections in November.
Why world is anxious over Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, providing an outlet for major oil and gas exporters. Its importance lies in both the volume of energy passing through it and the limited capacity of alternative routes to replace those shipments.
The US Energy Information Administration’s assessment put oil flows through Hormuz at an average of 20.9 million barrels a day in the first half of 2025. That represented about one-fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption and roughly a quarter of oil traded by sea, providing a measure of the waterway’s importance before the current conflict.
More recent estimates show the scale of the disruption: the agency’s August 2026 outlook put flows at 4.9 million barrels a day in the second quarter of this year. That compared with 21.6 million barrels a day in the final quarter of 2025, before the conflict began.
Asian economies are particularly exposed because they receive most of the crude oil and condensate shipped through Hormuz. China, India, Japan and South Korea together accounted for 74 per cent of those flows in the first half of 2025, making reliable passage a direct energy-security concern for New Delhi.
The vulnerability also extends to liquefied natural gas, which supplies power generation and industrial consumers alongside other uses. About one-fifth of global LNG trade passed through Hormuz in 2024, primarily from Qatar, with China, India and South Korea together receiving 52 per cent of those shipments.
These figures explain why the diplomatic impasse matters beyond the immediate military confrontation: a durable settlement would need to restore predictable access for commercial vessels carrying both oil and gas. Trump’s rejection and Tehran’s insistence on its conditions leave that outcome dependent on negotiations whose central disagreements remain unresolved.