Iran's Six-Day Hormuz Offer: Sanctions Relief, Ceasefires and Fast-Tracked Nuclear Talks
Iran has told US President Donald Trump it is ready to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within six days and start talks on its nuclear programme the day after.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivered the message in New York, where diplomats have gathered for the UN General Assembly. He said Tehran is waiting for a reply from Washington and will stay in New York over the weekend. He said he had consulted China on the plan and Beijing fully supports it, according to The Guardian.
Through mediators, Araghchi described the offer in slightly different terms. In that channel, the strait would open within seven days and talks would start if certain conditions are met. The reason for the six-day versus seven-day difference was not explained.
Tehran lists three conditions: the United States lifts sanctions — penalties that block oil sales — on Iran's oil exports, ends fighting on all fronts including in Lebanon, and releases some of Iran's frozen assets. Araghchi said those preconditions were in the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, a written framework signed by Trump. The US and Iran signed that memorandum in June. Under it, nuclear talks would not have started for 60 days. The new proposal would shorten that wait to one day after reopening.
The practical part centres on Oman. Iran says a deal on a temporary route through the strait has been agreed with Muscat and Tehran is ready to register details of that route with the International Maritime Organisation, the UN agency that records shipping lanes. Questions such as whether Oman and Iran could charge tolls or navigational fees would be settled later. Tehran also wants to keep control of shipping in order to prevent some US military shipping from going through the strait.
Saudi Arabia had been expected to endorse the Oman-Iran route last week but pulled back. The pullback was partly due to anger that Iranian-backed Houthis had started attacking Saudi Arabia in a dispute over Yemen's future. Iran claims it urged the Houthis to stop attacks on Saudi Arabia but does not control Houthi decision-making.
The proposal was outlined alongside a rare meeting with Britain. UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband met Araghchi in New York. It was the first meeting between UK and Iranian ministers for a year. It followed the UK's decision in July to proscribe, meaning to formally ban as a terrorist group, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Earlier Iranian signals pointed in the same direction but with different emphasis. A senior Iranian official said in September that Tehran could reopen the strait within days if the United States eased military pressure and lifted its blockade, according to Reuters. As of Sept. 23, Tehran was reviewing the US response to proposals to lift the naval blockade and reopen the waterway. At the same time, Iran and the United States remained far apart in peace talks, according to an Iranian official cited by Reuters.
The broader context here is a negotiation running on several tracks at once. Like separate deals tied into one package, the Hormuz offer links shipping transit, oil sanctions, frozen assets, a multi-front ceasefire, and the nuclear issue into a single sequence. That linkage gives each side leverage beyond a single issue. It also creates several points where implementation can stall.
Looking at what this means for mediators, Oman and China play different roles. Oman is the technical partner for the temporary route and the IMO registration. China is the political backer already consulted. Saudi Arabia's withdrawal of endorsement last week shows Gulf agreement cannot be assumed, particularly while Houthi attacks on Saudi territory continue and Tehran says it does not direct those decisions.
For Washington, the choice is speed against scope. The June memorandum set a 60-day wait before nuclear talks. The new formula offers talks within 24 hours of reopening. The price for faster talks is action on oil sanctions, assets, and ends to fighting well beyond the waterway, including Lebanon. Whether the temporary route, with fees undecided and Iranian screening of military traffic retained, gives enough assurance for commercial insurers and naval planners will shape any response delivered in New York.
