Iran proposed opening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping within a week, and Trump turned it down. The proposal arrived on Friday from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking at the UN in New York. The following day, Trump addressed reporters at the White House and said that Tehran “want to make a deal where they open the Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly.”.
Araghchi’s proposal
Araghchi said agreement could be reached “if the necessary conditions are met,” adding that these conditions were contained in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the two countries in June. He framed the reopening as a restoration of normal maritime passage.
“If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, a normal maritime passage restored within seven days,” Araghchi said. He also said the actions the United States should take “are not new. They are all already in the MOU… The choice now rests with the United States.”
The agreement was meant to stop fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz again at least in part. It carried a 14-point arrangement that Iran would never possess a nuclear weapon. The arrangement also required the US, Iran and their allies to halt military operations on “all fronts”, along with measures to end a US naval blockade and further sanctions.
After both sides resumed strikes, the deal collapsed. Iran claims ships crossed the strait without authorisation, and has attacked vessels it says attempted such crossings. The US has struck Iranian sites in the strait and Iranian tankers off the country’s coast. It has kept up a blockade of Iranian ports, which has caused huge disruption to the Iranian economy.
Shipping data shows a recent 10-day average of about 18 transits per day, with numbers dropping as low as nine vessels on certain days, according to Kpler, a commodities analytics firm cited by Reuters.
Iran’s president speaks
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, spoke with CBS News, which serves as the BBC’s US partner, saying: “We had previously reached an agreement based on the MOU that was signed in Pakistan… if the United States agrees to proceed in that way, everything will return to the way it was before.”
Kirsten Fontenrose, who worked on the National Security Council during the first Trump administration, told the BBC that there was no interest in restarting talks about the MOU. She claimed the deal is viewed as a poor agreement in the US and that Iran was “pushing against a very closed door.”.
The situation has been exacerbated by Houthi attacks on Saudi oil installations. Yemen’s Houthis, allied to Iran, have recently intensified attacks aimed at disrupting Saudi oil exports via the Red Sea. The Houthis seized strategic stretches of Yemen’s Red Sea coast this month, including the port of Mokha, which overlooks the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Saturday saw the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen say it had stopped two ballistic missiles and drones fired by the Houthis toward Saudi Arabia. Reports from US outlets indicate that leaders there have asked for military backing from Trump.
Trump told the UN General Assembly this week that he believed a deal with Iran would come after November’s elections, while pondering whether he “annihilate the Islamic Republic” to rebuild it “quickly.” Araghchi responded on Friday that “peace cannot be built through threats of annihilation.”
The state of the strait
One of the world’s busiest waterways is the Strait of Hormuz. Its prolonged shutdown would send shockwaves through global energy markets.
As Araghchi put it, the decision now sits with the United States. Whether that door stays shut hinges on whether Washington is prepared to meet the conditions Tehran has already set down in writing.
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| MOU signed by Iran and the US | June |
| Araghchi speaks at UN in New York | Friday |
| Trump rejects the offer | Monday |
| Pezeshkian speaks to CBS News | Not specified |
| Fontenrose speaks to BBC | Not specified |
The situation is clear for all to see. Iran has put forward an offer to restore regular shipping. The United States has turned it down. What remains to be seen is whether the US will finally give up its refusal and accept that offer, or if it will continue pressing against a door it cannot open until after November’s elections.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs neither side, but would back a diplomatic approach over confrontation if either side were to take one up, consistent with its focus-at-home posture. The collapse of the deal means neither side has yet found common ground, and the strait remains shut.
The proposal from Araghchi was specific: he tied the reopening to conditions already set out in the MOU, and offered a timeline measured in days. That kind of clarity is what diplomacy needs, even when the door remains shut.
The paper’s scepticism of foreign entanglements and its preference for trade, diplomacy and compromise over trade wars apply here too. A deal based on the MOU, with conditions already agreed, offers a clearer path than confrontation. The reader should watch whether either side shows real interest in reopening the strait through negotiation rather than threat.
Source material: “Trump rejects Iran deal to reopen Strait of Hormuz in seven days,” the BBC.
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