Trump Rejects Iran Offer to Reopen Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz met rejection from President Donald Trump, Arab News reported, leaving a Qatari-mediated offer unresolved as Washington and Tehran continued to define any wider talks on opposite terms.

The proposal surfaced during the UN General Assembly in New York.

Iran presented it as a message passed through Qatari mediators to the United States, with a pledge that the strategic passage could be restored to shipping and that regional hostilities could pause within seven days if Washington accepted.

Trump’s response at the White House was immediate and dismissive.

“I reject their proposal,” he told reporters before leaving for Tennessee, adding that Iran wanted an agreement because it was “losing so badly.” His public explanation framed the offer less as a diplomatic opening than as an attempt by Tehran to regain revenue tied to the strait.

The waterway is the center of the pressure campaign.

A US economic blockade on Iran and Tehran’s blockade of Hormuz have turned shipping through one of the world’s most important maritime routes into the immediate point of leverage.

Trump also repeated his assertion that the United States had control of the strait.

The diplomatic picture is not limited to the public rejection.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Trump’s decision, citing unnamed US officials, and described him as doubtful that Iran would satisfy his conditions.

The account also put a possible new bombing phase after the November US midterm elections, based on what Trump had conveyed to staff.

That harder line contrasts with a more cautious signal from an earlier US official, who characterized the mediator channel as moving in a useful direction.

At the United Nations, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi laid out the same seven-day timetable for restoring Hormuz traffic and stopping the broader fighting.

Araqchi said everything was prepared if the United States showed seriousness about reaching a deal.

Wider talks could then begin on mutually agreed subjects, potentially including Iran’s nuclear program, but that is where the possible opening narrows quickly.

Trump’s nuclear demand is categorical: Tehran cannot be allowed to obtain a bomb.

A senior Iranian official separately told Reuters that Iran would not show flexibility over its nuclear program even if Washington accepted the peace offer, including on uranium enrichment or shipping highly enriched uranium out of the country.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian offered a parallel line in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Tehran would engage on nuclear questions and other matters, he said, but it would not accept “bullying or coercion.” He added that Iran was not seeking war but would defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks.

The standoff follows earlier diplomacy that failed to end a conflict launched on February 28 by US and Israeli strikes.

The war has since moved through pauses and renewed attacks, killing thousands, weakening Iran’s conventional forces and worsening its economy, while Iran and allied groups have expanded the conflict through drone, missile and Houthi-linked attacks across the region.