Iran has insisted that diplomacy is the only way to resolve its conflict with the United States and Israel after US President Donald Trump said he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the fighting.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that reopening the strategic waterway remained conditional on Tehran’s demands being met.
“Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met,” Araqchi said in a social media post. “Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock.”
Iran presented the proposal last week during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to Washington through Qatari mediators.
Trump said on Saturday that he had rejected the proposal, arguing that Iran was seeking an immediate reopening of the waterway because it was under 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.
Trump, however, said on Sunday that US negotiators were expected to hold further talks with Iran this week.
Araqchi said Iranian officials had yet to receive an official communication from mediators confirming Washington’s rejection of the proposal.
“We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them,” he said.
The United States has imposed an economic blockade on Iran as part of efforts to pressure Tehran over attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which have sharply reduced shipping through the strategic waterway.
Iran’s army commander, Amir Hatami, said the conflict had reached a critical stage and that Tehran would not accept a situation where it could not trade while foreign powers controlled strategic waterways in the region.
“If Iran cannot trade, if Iran cannot live, no one will be able to trade or live,” Hatami said, according to Iranian state media.
The conflict has also increasingly affected Saudi Arabia, with Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen advancing against forces backed by Riyadh and threatening Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea.
The Houthis have repeatedly launched attacks towards Saudi Arabia.
In a possible sign of heightened concern, schools in Riyadh were expected to switch to remote learning for the week, according to notices received by parents.
Saudi authorities did not immediately comment on the decision.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi-run health ministry said seven people were killed and 40 wounded, including children, in a strike on shops at a market in Taiz province.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government later said its forces had targeted a Houthi military camp and vehicles at the same location.
Hormuz proposal
Araqchi said on Friday that the Iranian proposal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and pausing regional fighting.
“If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared,” he said.
Under the proposal, broader negotiations could then begin on issues agreed by both sides, potentially including Iran’s nuclear programme.
US envoy to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Trump rejected the proposal because it required the immediate lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen Iranian assets.
“They were asking for everything up front with a promise that they would then talk,” Waltz told CNN.
He said Trump was not convinced that Iran was prepared to negotiate in good faith or agree to an end to its nuclear programme.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, however, said Tehran was ready to negotiate over its nuclear programme and other issues but would not accept what he called bullying or coercion.
“Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks,” Pezeshkian said, adding that Iran had already agreed that it would not develop nuclear weapons.
The war began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Since then, the conflict has alternated between pauses and renewed attacks, while disrupting oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz and affecting the wider global economy.
