Iran on Sunday insisted that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the United States and Israel after US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting.
“Our conditions are clear, and any move towards reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi posted on social media. “Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock.”
Iran announced a peace proposal earlier this week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump on Saturday said he rejected the plan and argued that desperation drives the Iranians’ push for an agreement on the key waterway.
“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.
Despite Trump’s public statements, mediators facilitating US-Iran talks with the United States have not officially relayed a US rejection of the plan, according to Araqchi.
“We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them,” Araqchi posted.
The US has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to stop Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which have drastically reduced shipping through the area even as Trump repeatedly asserts that the US controls the waterway.
