IRAN has proposed a seven-day ceasefire and the reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz as part of conditions for ending its ongoing conflict with the United States, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.
Araghchi, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, disclosed the proposal while speaking to media outlets, including The New York Times and The Guardian.
“If certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within seven days, and talks will start,” Araghchi was quoted as saying.
The proposal reportedly requires a cessation of hostilities across the Middle East for seven days, including in Lebanon, before Iran would reopen the crucial waterway.
According to details attributed to Araghchi, Tehran is also seeking the release of frozen Iranian assets estimated at more than $12 billion, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil exports and an end to the United States naval blockade of Iran.
Under the proposal, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz on the seventh day of the truce.
Araghchi said Tehran was awaiting Washington’s response and maintained that China supported the proposal.
The development came after Araghchi held talks with US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Tuesday.
Japanese news agency Kyodo had earlier reported that Iran was considering a proposal to reopen the waterway, citing a senior Iranian official. Iranian media subsequently denied the report, while authorities in Tehran had not immediately clarified their position.
A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Mohebi, also told AFP that an end to hostilities in Yemen was among Tehran’s demands.
The Strait of Hormuz, a major international shipping route connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, has remained at the centre of the conflict because of its importance to global energy supplies and commercial shipping.
The latest proposal follows an earlier memorandum of understanding signed by the United States and Iran in June, which was intended to end the war, facilitate the reopening of the strait and pave the way for talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
That arrangement subsequently collapsed after Iran fired on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing them of deviating from routes approved by Tehran.
Iran has maintained that vessels must obtain authorisation before passing through the waterway, citing security and sovereignty concerns.
The United States has, meanwhile, carried out retaliatory strikes against Iranian coastal areas.
The latest proposal, if accepted, could therefore provide a framework for renewed diplomatic engagement between Washington and Tehran, while placing the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz at the centre of negotiations.
