Trump Rejects Iran’s Hormuz Reopening Offer, Saying Tehran Is Losing the War
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping within seven days, saying Tehran was seeking a deal only because it is losing the war.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Saturday, Trump said Iran wanted to make an agreement that would reopen the strait immediately because it was “losing so badly.” His remarks poured cold water on hopes that the two sides could move quickly toward a ceasefire and restore a key artery for global energy supplies.
The rejection came after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters at the United Nations in New York on Friday that an agreement could be reached “if the necessary conditions are met,” pointing to a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries in June.
The Strait of Hormuz is the vital waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s gas and oil supply normally flows. It has been effectively closed since the war broke out in February, disrupting energy markets and sending prices on wild swings.
“I’m rejecting their deal,” Trump said, adding that the United States already had “total control” of the strait, with “massive amounts of oil” passing through it.
“They want to make a deal, and I think that’s fine. I like making a deal, too. But that deal would not be acceptable,” he added.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing officials, that Trump was skeptical Iran would meet his demands and had told his staff that a renewed bombing campaign was likely.
Iran responded to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that began in late February by attacking Israel, U.S. bases in the Gulf and Arab Gulf allies of Washington, as well as by blocking the Strait of Hormuz. The closure has caused severe fluctuations in energy prices.
The economic fallout has also increased pressure on Trump to find a way to end the conflict, particularly as the United States heads toward congressional elections in November.
Araghchi said Iran had not added any new conditions in its latest proposals. He told reporters Friday that “if the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, a normal maritime passage restored within seven days.”
He did not specify what steps Iran wanted the United States to take, but said the actions expected of Washington were “not new. They are all already in the MOU. The choice now rests with the United States.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partner, that the two sides had previously reached an agreement based on the MOU signed in Pakistan. “If the United States agrees to proceed in that way, everything will return to the way it was before,” he said. Pezeshkian also said Iran would now allow U.N. nuclear inspectors into the country.
The June MOU was intended to produce a ceasefire and at least partially reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The 14-point agreement said Iran would never have a nuclear weapon. It called for the United States, Iran and their allies to end military operations on “all fronts,” and included provisions to end a U.S. naval blockade and other sanctions.
It also said Iran would “make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels” through the strait.
But the deal collapsed after both sides resumed strikes. Iran has attacked vessels it says tried to cross the strait without authorization, while the United States has struck Iranian sites in the strait and Iranian tankers off the country’s coast. Washington has also maintained a blockade of Iranian ports, causing huge disruption to Iran’s economy.
Trump has since claimed the United States has succeeded in getting oil out through the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping data, however, shows a recent 10-day average of about 18 transits per day, with some days falling as low as nine vessels, according to the commodities analytics firm Kpler, as cited by Reuters.
The situation has been worsened by Houthi attacks on Saudi oil installations. Yemen’s Houthis, allies of Iran, have recently intensified attacks aimed at disrupting Saudi oil exports via the Red Sea, on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz.
The group seized strategic stretches of Yemen’s Red Sea coast this month, including the port of Mokha, which overlooks the Bab al-Mandab Strait, another chokepoint for global shipping.
On Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and drones launched by the Houthis toward Saudi Arabia. U.S. media reported that Saudi leaders have requested military support from Trump.
In remarks to the U.N. General Assembly this week, Trump said he believed a deal with Iran would come after November’s elections, while raising the possibility of “annihilating the Islamic Republic” and rebuilding it “quickly.” Araghchi responded Friday that “peace cannot be built through threats of annihilation.”
Related coverage: A lightning Houthi advance in Yemen may bring a dangerous new dimension to the Iran war; the United States and Iran held their first talks since June after Trump’s annihilation threat; and the question of what is in the U.S.-Iran agreement remains central to the standoff.