Abbas Araghchi keeps seven-day Hormuz offer on the table

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Tehran’s seven-day plan for the Strait of Hormuz remained open to Washington. 

He told Iranian media that Iran had not withdrawn its offer. If the United States met Tehran’s conditions, the strait would reopen on Friday, and talks would resume the next day.

“If there is sincerity on the part of the Americans,” he said, the way forward was clear. Iran was now working on its reply to the latest US response.

What Abbas Araghchi wants from Washington

Under the plan, Iran would first take four to five days of confidence-building steps. The strait would then reopen on day six or seven. Formal nuclear and peace negotiations would restart on day seven.

Iran wants about $12 billion in frozen assets released, along with a waiver or lifting of sanctions on its oil exports. Finally, it wants Washington to lift the naval blockade on Iranian ports.

The proposal also asks for a ceasefire on every front in the region, including Lebanon and Yemen. In return, Tehran would let commercial ships use the strait again.

Araghchi spoke on Saturday at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Baghdad. There he said Iran had passed the plan to Washington through Qatar.

Trump’s earlier rejection

President Donald Trump rejected the offer in September. Outside the White House, he told reporters the terms were “not acceptable.”

Since then, neither side has reached a deal on reopening the waterway, and Washington has kept up its naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Abbas Araghchi told the Baghdad meeting that Iran had pursued diplomacy for two years. He blamed the United States for choosing aggression, threats and economic pressure instead.

Roughly five thousand people lost their lives, he said, and hundreds of women and children were among them. He also accused the two countries of assassinating Iran’s supreme leader along with other senior political and military figures.

Iran, he said, defended itself and never attacked its neighbors, though it did strike US military bases in the region. He added that Iran knows the cost of war and values peace for that very reason. Iran, he added, asks for no special treatment from anyone.

Incidents in the strait

Fresh incidents added to the tension. An oil tanker exploded after striking a naval mine, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Saturday, adding that the ship had tried to pass illegally.

The Guard’s navy said the strait stayed closed and that transit remained prohibited. Iranian media later reported a second tanker explosion.

Two tankers caught fire in total, according to the Guard, and together they carried about two million barrels of crude.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Saturday that Iran was building long-range missiles and chasing nuclear weapons that could threaten the United States.

Separately, lawmakers in Tehran named Mehrdad Akhlaqi as defense minister, ending a long interim period at the ministry.

For now, the offer from Abbas Araghchi hangs on a response that neither capital has given, while ships in the strait face growing danger.