Iran has offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program in seven days if the United States lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observes a ceasefire that would include Lebanon. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi detailed the proposal to reporters outside the UN Security Council on Friday, saying it would also restart stalled talks with the U.S. on Iran’s nuclear program. “The seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan,” he said. Araghchi said initial steps would take about four to five days to complete and the strait would be open on the sixth day. “And on day seven, the talks with the U.S. will be started for the final deal on mutually agreed subjects,” he said, referring to the nuclear program. Iran’s disruption of the strait -- through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas transited before the war -- has emerged as its main point of leverage. The effects have been felt far beyond the Middle East and posed political problems for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections. The White House said only that U.S. officials are having positive and constructive conversations with mediators on the Iran war. In response to questions from The Associated Press, it said the U.S. is facilitating significant oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz. There was no immediate comment from Gulf Arab nations, although a person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations, told The Associated Press that Saudi Arabia was skeptical of the latest push for a deal. The proposal resembles a June deal that quickly crumbled The proposal, conveyed to the U.S. by mediators, strongly resembles the so-called Memorandum of Understanding reached in June, but with an accelerated timetable. The earlier agreement, which called for a 60-day interim period, quickly collapsed as Iran resumed attacks on shipping in the strait. Trump has said he is in no rush to reach a deal, even as high oil prices fuel inflation. On the Iranian side, there are questions as to whether the hard-liners who dominate the security forces would accept compromises championed by moderates like President Masoud Pezeshkian. “If Trump calculates this arrangement is worthwhile and can bring political benefit before the midterms and reduce gas prices, perhaps we’ll see flexibility not seen in previous weeks,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute think tank. But he noted “deep suspicion,” especially around the prospect of Iran merely buying time to ship out more of its oil and ease its economic pain. There are other signs of renewed diplomacy In the latest sign of diplomatic movement, Pezeshkian hosted the prime minister of Qatar early Friday. Qatar has been a key mediator, including during hours of indirect Iran-U.S. talks at the UN this week. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that “if there’s an opportunity to exchange ideas and messages, we will.” After multiple failed attempts at a deal, however, suspicion is high on both sides. The U.S. and Israel have attacked Iran twice while it was engaged in nuclear talks, and the U.S. and Iran accuse each other of having swiftly violated the June agreement. “The Iranians already know that the chances of this not being accepted by Trump are much higher than the opposite,” Hamidreza Azizi, senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, wrote on X. “They want to show that they were ready for diplomacy and that it was the United States that, for the third time, decided to attack in the middle of a diplomatic track -- something that people within (Iran’s) strategic community have been anticipating over the past few days.” Araghchi said Friday that more than 5,000 people in Iran have been killed in the nearly seven-month U.S.-Israeli war. It’s unclear if the proposal would include the Yemen conflict The proposal would include Lebanon, where Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have been mostly observing a ceasefire. It’s not clear, however, if it would include the revived conflict between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, which has put even more pressure on global markets. Iran appears to think the Houthis’ newly enhanced ability to threaten the Bab el-Mandeb strait on the Red Sea -- another trade chokepoint on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula -- could push Trump to make a deal. Araghchi met with his Saudi counterpart on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, as he and other Iranian officials held meetings that included representatives from other countries that Tehran has exchanged military strikes with over the last year. With the Houthis’ latest surge in attacks, Saudi Arabia was skeptical of Araghchi’s latest push for a deal with the U.S., according to the person familiar with the matter. The kingdom, along with other Gulf states, had advocated over the summer for a return to negotiations, saying they could live with an agreement that gave Iran a temporary role in managing the Strait of Hormuz, the person said. But the Saudi calculations changed as the Houthis seized Yemen’s strategic Red Sea coast from pro-government forces and a vital Saudi pipeline came under attack. Earlier this month, Gulf leaders planned to gather in Oman to discuss an emerging agreement between Oman and Iran on the Strait of Hormuz, which runs between the two countries. But the meeting was canceled after Saudi Arabia called for amendments, only some of which were accepted by Iran, the person said. Iran’s leadership has shown signs of divisions Iran’s leaders have sought to project unity, but some hard-liners want to continue or escalate the war to secure bigger U.S. concessions and have criticized Pezeshkian and Araghchi’s diplomatic steps this week. Firebrand lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei wrote on X that merely meeting with “the aggressor enemy” showed weakness. Iran’s Assembly of Experts, a panel of Shiite clerics who appoint the supreme leader, said “there is no path other than resistance.” Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who served as chief negotiator in earlier talks with the United States, provided a rare public acknowledgment of the internal divide. “There is a view that speaks of war but offers no prospect or mechanism for bringing it to a powerful conclusion,” he wrote on social media. “At the opposite end is a current that makes the error of underestimating national capabilities.” He added: “The first error keeps the country in a state of permanent crisis, while the second hands national resources and dignity over to the enemy.” Cara Anna and Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press Associated Press reporters Josh Boak and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.
