Iran said on Sunday it would not retreat from its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a day after US President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s proposal for a seven-day process aimed at restoring shipping and halting the fighting.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said any move towards reopening the strategic waterway remained conditional on Washington meeting Tehran’s demands, while insisting that negotiations offered the only route out of the conflict.
“Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met,” Araghchi wrote on social media. “Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock.”
Trump publicly rejected the Iranian proposal on Saturday, saying Tehran wanted an agreement because it was under severe economic pressure.
“They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” Trump told reporters at the White House. He said he was also willing to reach an agreement but described Iran’s proposal as unacceptable.
Despite Trump’s comments, Araghchi said Tehran had not yet received Washington’s definitive response through the mediators handling indirect contacts between the two sides.
“We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them,” he said.
Iran presented the proposal through Qatari intermediaries after discussions surrounding the UN General Assembly in New York, Reuters reported. Tehran has said it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States met a series of conditions.
The plan calls for Washington to release frozen Iranian funds, lift oil sanctions and end its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Araghchi said last week that the necessary US measures could be completed within four or five days, allowing normal shipping to resume and negotiations on a broader agreement to begin by the seventh day.
A separate warning issued on Sunday added to uncertainty surrounding commercial navigation through the waterway.
The Iranian-established Persian Gulf Strait Authority, or PGSA, warned shipowners against using what it called “illegal routes” through Hormuz.
The authority said such transits risked financial losses and casualties among vessels and crews and could lead to restrictions on ships’ future passage through the strait. It also warned that other vessels belonging to companies involved in unauthorised transits could face restrictions.
The designation of routes as legal or illegal reflects Iran’s own maritime restrictions and is disputed in the wider confrontation over control and access to the strait.
Shipping through Hormuz has fallen dramatically since the US-Iran conflict began on 28 February.
Pre-conflict traffic averaged about 125 large commercial vessels a day, according to Reuters, including oil tankers, gas carriers, container ships and bulk carriers. Only two commodity vessels were recorded crossing on 21 September, although the figures excluded ships travelling with their tracking systems switched off.
The strait normally carries about a fifth of the world’s daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas supply, making disruption there a major risk to international energy markets.
Two vessels were also hit in separate incidents around the strait last week. Reuters reported that the LR Stephanie, an Isle of Man-flagged crude tanker, was struck by an unidentified projectile, injuring two crew members, while the Liberia-flagged LPG carrier Al Maryah was struck during an outbound transit. Responsibility for both incidents remained unconfirmed.
Iran has linked reopening the strait to an easing of US military and economic pressure, while Washington says its blockade is intended to pressure Tehran over Iranian attacks on shipping. Trump has repeatedly said the United States controls the waterway, a claim disputed by Tehran.
The latest exchange leaves the two sides publicly divided over the terms of any agreement, but indirect diplomacy remains active. Araghchi said Tehran would wait for a formal US response through mediators before deciding its next step.
