Iran offers US seven-day plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz and start nuclear talks

Iran has offered the United States a conditional seven-day plan to end the conflict in West Asia, with the Strait of Hormuz reopening at the end of that period if its conditions are met, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters at the UN General Assembly, according to The New York Times. The proposal would then lead to talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, the report said. Araghchi said Iran had sent the plan through intermediaries and would prefer an agreement before the US midterm elections in November, according to the Times account provided to Moneycontrol. He compared the proposal with a memorandum of understanding reached by Washington and Tehran in June. The offer follows an earlier account of its terms: on September 22, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran could reopen Hormuz within seven days if the US eased military pressure and lifted its blockade of Iranian ports. The June memorandum was intended to halt fighting and provide a framework for further negotiations, including on Iran’s nuclear programme, but those talks did not produce a final settlement. Araghchi also discussed diplomatic conditions with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in New York, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian separately accused Washington of derailing the June process. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, called for Iran’s economic isolation in his September 22 UN address and said he expected a deal after the midterm elections.