Iran says Washington has answered its offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, bringing a new diplomatic exchange before Tehran’s leadership. But the American terms remain undisclosed, and Iran’s foreign minister insists the waterway will reopen only when Tehran’s conditions are met.
By the Editorial Team of TLF
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the US response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, according to government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, whose statement to state-run IRNA was reported by the Associated Press. The announcement establishes that a response has reached the president; it does not establish that Tehran has accepted it.
The Dispute Over Who Moves First
According to Reuters, Araghchi received Washington’s feedback through Qatari mediators in Doha on Tuesday. A non-Iranian official briefed on the talks said the main disagreement concerned the order of implementation, rather than the plan’s components. The proposed seven-day confidence-building period would restore an enhanced version of June’s memorandum of understanding, including nuclear steps. That account remains attributed to an unnamed source; no agreed timetable has been announced.
The distinction matters. An exchange of documents can keep negotiations alive while leaving the hardest question unresolved: which side must surrender leverage before the other delivers?
Iran Says Its Conditions Have Not Changed
As Tasnim reported on September 29, Araghchi told Iranian journalists at the end of his New York visit that Tehran’s seven-point proposal had been delivered through Qatar. He said the conditions for reopening Hormuz reflected the supreme leader’s requirements and rejected suggestions that Iran had softened its position.
Araghchi described discussions with a Qatari intermediary about ways to fulfil those conditions, with decisions to follow in Tehran once Washington’s answer arrived. He also said the immediate discussion concerned Hormuz. That narrower public description should be distinguished from the unnamed official’s account of a document also containing nuclear measures.
Iranian outlet Entekhab, relaying a Reuters report, said a senior Iranian official identified Tehran’s priorities as a permanent end to hostilities and the lifting of the US naval blockade. Its account said Tuesday’s indirect discussions covered both the reopening of Hormuz and the blockade. This is a report of Iran’s demands, rather than evidence of American agreement.
Pezeshkian Defends the Diplomatic Route
According to Anadolu’s account of ISNA reporting, Pezeshkian said Iran was making every possible effort to secure the success of the Islamabad memorandum. Explaining what negotiations had achieved, he argued, should be understood as transparency rather than submission to Iran’s adversaries.
The same report identifies Iranian conditions including an end to US military and economic pressure, access to frozen or restricted assets, and arrangements for safe shipping. It also notes that implementation of the June memorandum stalled over security disagreements in the waterway.
For now, the diplomatic opening has a clear limit: Washington’s answer is in Tehran’s hands, but its contents are not public. Until the sides announce reciprocal steps and arrangements for maritime passage, a response alone offers no assurance that ships will move freely again.
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