Iran receives US feedback on Hormuz reopening plan

Iran has submitted a seven-day plan to the United States to restore normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear negotiations, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday, 25 September. The proposal links reopening the strategic waterway to sanctions relief and an end to hostilities. [6] [7]

Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, Araghchi said maritime passage could be restored within seven days if the necessary conditions were met. “The choice now rests with the United States,” he said. [6]

Iran’s proposed conditions

Araghchi said Iran wanted hostilities to end on all fronts, including Lebanon; the US naval blockade on Iran lifted; sanctions on Iranian oil waived; and frozen Iranian assets released, The New York Times reported. Under the sequence he described, those measures would precede reopening, with comprehensive nuclear negotiations beginning immediately after the seven-day period. [7]

The timetable would be triggered by US acceptance, rather than running from the announcement. Araghchi said the proposal had been passed to Washington through mediators, journalist Laura Rozen reported after a briefing in New York on Thursday. [8]

An unnamed US official familiar with the talks told The New York Times that discussions through mediators were positive and constructive, but that Washington would not rush into a deal. [7]

Commercial traffic through Hormuz has not stopped entirely. Lloyd’s List Intelligence tracked passages by non-Iranian-linked cargo vessels between 14 and 20 September, before the new proposal. Its 24 September briefing nevertheless assessed the threat to commercial shipping as severe. [5]

Update

An official briefed on the talks told Reuters that Qatari mediators gave Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi US feedback on the proposed seven-day plan in Doha on Tuesday night. The official said Araghchi would discuss it in Tehran on Wednesday, The New Arab reported.