A senior Iranian official says Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if Washington reduces military pressure and lifts its blockade of Iranian ports, while conflicting statements from inside Iran underscore uncertainty over the proposal.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States begins reducing military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official said Tuesday as Tehran’s delegation arrived in New York with authority to explore renewed diplomacy with Washington.

The proposal, described to Reuters by the unnamed senior official, comes amid continued military tensions and warnings from Tehran that renewed U.S. operations against Iran would trigger retaliation.

“The US needs to announce that it wants to resolve the issue diplomatically, make that official, and then agree on a timeline for how the process will move forward,” the Iranian official said.

According to the official, Tehran transmitted its proposal to Washington through mediators on Sept. 16 and views this week’s United Nations General Assembly as an opportunity to discuss the details of an agreement ending hostilities.

The official said Iran’s delegation in New York has full authority to revive diplomatic contacts with the United States.

“The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy,” the official said, adding that Tehran would welcome renewed negotiations if Washington demonstrated its intentions through tangible measures. Reuters independently reported the offer Tuesday.

The reported opening is significant because the Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted after months of conflict.

Prewar traffic averaged roughly 125 large commercial vessels daily through the strategic waterway. Preliminary shipping data showed only two commodity vessels crossing Monday, although those figures may omit ships operating without Automatic Identification System signals.

The strait connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and global shipping routes and has historically carried a major share of the world’s petroleum exports.

Any reopening would therefore have consequences extending well beyond Iran and the United States.

Oil markets reacted to reports of the Iranian offer Tuesday. Brent crude fell to a two-week low as traders weighed the prospect of increased Gulf supply alongside Saudi Arabia’s restart of its East-West Pipeline, which allows some oil exports to bypass Hormuz.

The diplomatic signals, however, emerged alongside continued threats of military escalation.

Iran’s military central command said Sunday that it had received information indicating the United States was preparing to resume military operations with support from countries in the region.

Iran warned that another attack would produce retaliation “without limitations and considerations,” according to Reuters.

Those warnings have kept the diplomatic opening uncertain even as Iranian and American officials gather in New York.

President Masoud Pezeshkian left Tehran for the United Nations on Tuesday morning, but the senior Iranian official said no meeting between Pezeshkian and President Donald Trump was planned at U.N. headquarters.

The two presidents are therefore not expected to conduct direct negotiations under the proposal described by the official.

Instead, Tehran says intermediaries could be used to discuss the conditions for ending hostilities.

The Iranian official said details of a potential agreement could be negotiated in New York through mediating countries, building on the proposal sent to Washington Sept. 16.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio separately said Tuesday that the United States is open to speaking with Iranian representatives during the General Assembly, although no meeting was scheduled.

“We’re open to that. I don’t think anything is scheduled at this point, but we’re certainly open to something like that, especially if it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately achieving the goal of what this is all about,” Rubio said in an NBC interview.

The reported Iranian offer calls for Washington to take the initial step by formally stating its intention to resolve the conflict diplomatically and agreeing on a timetable for subsequent negotiations.

Tehran would then be prepared to reopen Hormuz within seven days if the United States eases military pressure and removes its blockade of Iranian ports, according to the senior official.

The proposal is broadly consistent with demands Iranian leaders have publicly made during the conflict.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Sunday that the strait would remain closed until Tehran’s conditions were satisfied and the United States fulfilled commitments Iran says Washington previously made.

Qalibaf has said those demands include lifting the blockade, removing oil sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian assets and ending military threats and operations.

The latest report nevertheless became more complicated Tuesday when Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency disputed accounts from Reuters and Kyodo describing a seven-day reopening offer.

Fars cited Iranian sources as calling reports that Tehran had offered to reopen Hormuz within seven days in exchange for reduced U.S. pressure “invalid and untrue.”

That denial leaves competing accounts emerging from Iranian sources on the precise terms now under consideration.

Reuters continued to report Tuesday that a senior Iranian official had described the seven-day proposal and that Iran’s U.N. delegation had authority to pursue negotiations. Another Reuters report said both Tehran and Washington were signaling possible interest in reviving talks, although no direct Trump-Pezeshkian meeting was planned.

The disagreement does not erase broader indications that negotiations over Hormuz are underway.

Diplomatic efforts involving Iran, Gulf governments and other intermediaries have intensified as shipping disruptions have strained oil markets and raised pressure on governments dependent on Persian Gulf exports.

Qatar has been working to encourage at least an interim arrangement capable of reopening a diplomatic channel between Iran and the United States, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in New York for General Assembly meetings.

France is also considering a new U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at protecting freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, working with the United States on a proposal for an international maritime-security effort.

The economic consequences of the closure have added urgency.

Gulf producers have increasingly relied on alternative pipelines and costly ship-to-ship transfers to move crude around the blocked or dangerous portions of the strait.

Saudi Arabia restarted its East-West Pipeline Tuesday after a shutdown associated with drone attacks. The system can move approximately 4 million barrels per day toward the Red Sea when operating at full capacity, providing an alternative to the Hormuz route.

Other producers have been transferring oil between tankers near Oman in an effort to maintain exports, but those arrangements have raised transportation costs substantially.

The security situation around the strait also remains unstable.

Two vessels were struck Monday in separate incidents while operating around Hormuz. Neither attack had been publicly attributed to a specific actor as of Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Against that backdrop, Tehran’s presence at the U.N. gives diplomats a narrow opportunity to determine whether the competing public signals can be translated into negotiations.

Iran’s stated position is that Washington must first demonstrate that it intends to pursue diplomacy rather than prepare another military campaign.

The senior Iranian official said the United States would need to make that commitment official before the two sides establish a schedule for additional steps.

Pezeshkian’s presence in New York creates an opportunity for contacts with intermediaries even without a direct meeting with Trump.

For now, however, the status of the seven-day reopening proposal remains contested inside Iran itself.

A senior official told Reuters that Tehran could restore passage through Hormuz within a week if Washington eased military pressure and removed its port blockade, while Fars subsequently cited other Iranian sources rejecting that characterization.

What is clear is that both governments are publicly leaving room for diplomacy at the United Nations while military warnings, shipping disruptions and uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz continue to shape the negotiations.

Original article