CAIRO (AP) — Mediators work with Iran and the United States to try to negotiate an agreement to end the fighting and open the Strait of HormuzThree regional officials and two U.S. officials told The Associated Press, but major obstacles remain between the sides.
The indirect talks come as the conflict, entering its eighth month, has caused global economic damage and hit Iran hard. Multiple efforts to enable safe navigation on one of the world’s most crucial waterways have failed.
Officials revealed that behind-the-scenes efforts continue even after U.S. President Donald Trump initially said he had rejected an Iranian. proposal reopen the strait in a week if the United States agrees to lift the blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian assets and lift sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi – who remained in New York after last week’s gathering of world leaders at United Nations General Assembly – will meet with Qatari mediators on Monday over the latest discussions, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, according to Iranian state media.
Despite Trump’s often bellicose rhetoric, he is open to seeking a non-military resolution to the conflict if it can be found, a senior U.S. official said.
But the Trump administration will not reach an agreement with Tehran until nuclear issues are resolved, another US official said. Trump is willing to provide sanctions relief to Iran, as well as the release of some frozen funds, for concrete progress on nuclear issues, and although Iran has indicated it is flexible on nuclear issues, the sides are sharply divergent on the timeline and who will take the first steps, the official said.
All officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity about behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations.
The agreement would first reopen the strait and lift the American blockade.
Two of the regional officials speaking to the AP confirmed that mediators were working with both sides on a proposal that would include reopening the strait and lifting the U.S. blockade, then removing sanctions.
According to the draft text currently under discussion, the strait would be reopened under a separate agreement which Iran talks with Omanacross the strait, and it would not include any tolls – something Tehran has pursued. This agreement aims to temporarily manage maritime traffic on what was considered an international waterway before the war.
A regional official said the United States was seeking Iranian concessions on nuclear issues, including allowing inspectors into the country. Under the memorandum of understanding the agreement signed by the two sides in June and which collapsed within days, Iran’s nuclear program was supposed to be discussed over a period of 60 days.
U.S. officials say the United States is skeptical that it can persuade Iran to ultimately meet Trump’s terms for a deal and would be serious about any promises it makes, especially after it broke the interim deal by firing on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. officials say their position is strengthening as Tehran feels the impact of sanctions.
Iran’s latest proposal aims for faster action
Although the latest Iranian proposal echoes the June agreement, the essential difference lies in speed.
Araghchi told a closed-door meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week that Tehran presented the deal as advantageous to Trump in the midterm elections. Araghchi later told reporters that “the seven-day delay will begin as soon as the United States accepts this plan.”
Meanwhile, Araghchi met on Monday with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, whose office said he welcomed diplomatic efforts last week to end the conflict and urged the parties to continue talks.
Both the United States and Iran have suffered economically — the United States because of high oil prices as Iran attacks shipping in the strait, and Tehran because of the naval blockade and the growing number of U.S. sanctions that are curbing its oil sales. Brent crude, the international standard, is above $108.
For months, the two sides have been trying to survive each other, while regional countries have suffered missile and drone attacks as Tehran claims to target US military assets in the region.
Reflecting Iran’s impatience, a rare statement Monday attributed to the theocracy’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, highlighted the “painful blows” enemy forces have received near the strait. “Before long, the Arabian Sea will also be free of them,” the statement added.
Tehran’s latest proposal once again aimed to end the fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon. But a new front has emerged in recent weeks as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are now perched on another crucial waterway, the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. This has put additional pressure on global energy markets.
Iran argues that the Houthis have their own demands and that their conflict with neighboring Saudi Arabia is separate from the U.S.-Iran war, but Iranian officials have said they are willing to help find a settlement between the Houthis and the Saudis, one of the officials said.
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Price and Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in Washington and AP Middle East editor Victoria Eastwood contributed to this report.
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