Iran is reviewing US feedback on Tehran’s proposed seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and expects to respond within the next few days, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said.
“The negotiation process is still ongoing, and messages are being exchanged through mediators,” Araghchi said, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency on Thursday.
“We presented our proposal, which was called the ‘seven-day plan,’ and we heard the Americans’ views in response,” he said. “We are currently reviewing them. I believe we will respond within a few days.”
Tehran links Hormuz reopening to new talks
The seven-day initiative centres on restoring normal navigation through the strategic waterway while restarting negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Araghchi said in late September that Iran could reopen the strait within seven days if the United States accepted the proposal conveyed through Qatari mediation.
Under the plan, Washington would be expected to take agreed steps during the first four or five days. Normal navigation through the strait would then resume on the sixth day, with negotiations on a final agreement beginning on the seventh.
Iran’s stated demands include an end to hostilities, the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of restrictions on Iranian oil exports and an end to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The proposal was discussed through Qatari mediation during indirect Iran-US contacts on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
On September 30, Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Araghchi had received Washington’s response to the Qatari-mediated proposal but did not disclose its contents.
Hormuz remains at center of Iran-US tensions
Iran has kept restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz while demanding that Washington fulfill commitments under a June memorandum of understanding, saying the waterway will not fully reopen until its conditions are met and US commitments are implemented.
The United States and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28, after which Tehran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington later imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
The two sides later signed a memorandum of understanding in June on freedom of navigation through the strait, but implementation stalled over disagreements on security arrangements in the strategic waterway.
The latest exchange of proposals suggests that indirect diplomatic channels remain open as both sides consider steps to ease tensions along one of the world's most important energy and shipping routes.
