Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his team met Qatari mediators in Doha on Tuesday evening, where the minister received the US response to Iran’s seven-day proposal, according to a source familiar with the matter cited by Reuters. Araghchi is expected to discuss the response in Tehran on Wednesday.
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The source said the document under negotiation includes a seven-day plan aimed at building confidence and returning to an enhanced version of a memorandum of understanding signed by the United States and Iran in June.
The main disagreement between Washington and Tehran concerns the sequence in which the proposed steps would be implemented, rather than the elements of the seven-day plan itself, the source said.
Iran had submitted the proposal through Qatari mediators, outlining steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume negotiations over its nuclear program, as indirect contacts between the two sides continue with Qatar’s mediation.
US President Donald Trump had previously rejected an Iranian proposal for a seven-day ceasefire, saying Tehran was suffering significant losses as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and asserting that the United States had full control of the waterway.
Trump said Iran wanted to reach an agreement but described the proposal as unacceptable. He added that the United States had imposed “the largest blockade in military history” and built a steel wall around the Strait of Hormuz.
He pointed to the large volumes of oil passing through the strait, saying 29 vessels had crossed it overnight and that Iran had put itself in a difficult position by closing the waterway and losing sources of revenue.
According to US officials, Iran had transmitted the proposal to Washington through mediators, but Trump rejected it and said in closed-door meetings that he expected bombing of Iran to resume after the US midterm elections.
The officials said Trump questioned Iran’s willingness to comply with his demands, adding that his positions could change in the coming weeks. They said his reluctance to resume large-scale fighting was partly linked to Washington’s desire to preserve its dwindling ammunition stockpiles for other scenarios.
Araghchi, meanwhile, disclosed a seven-day plan that Tehran had presented to the United States through Qatar to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and resume negotiations.
Araghchi said the strait could return to normal operations during the proposed period, with the waterway fully reopened on the sixth day and negotiations on agreed issues beginning on the seventh day with the aim of reaching a final agreement.
He said the United States must take steps that Iran considers implementable within four to five days, adding that “the choice now is up to the United States.”
According to Araghchi, the plan includes a halt to all military operations in the Middle East, including Lebanon; the release of around $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets; the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil; and an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports, in exchange for reopening the strait on the seventh day of the truce.
The Strait of Hormuz is a vital route for global oil supplies and a central issue in the conflict between the United States and Iran, which has reached an impasse after nearly seven months. Since then, Iran has effectively closed the strait, while the United States has responded by imposing a blockade on Iranian ports.
The United States has not carried out strikes against Iran since September 1, despite subsequent attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Source: Reuters
