Trump Rejects Iran’s Conditional Offer to Reopen Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart nuclear negotiations with Washington within seven days.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced the offer on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Iranian officials said Tehran’s conditions included an end to what it calls U.S. “acts of aggression,” the lifting of a naval blockade and economic warfare, and the release of Iranian assets.

“They made a proposal but I rejected it,” Trump told reporters. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials, that Trump had told aides he expected U.S. strikes on Iran to resume after November’s midterm elections. Separately, U.S. officials told CNN and Axios that Trump remained open to sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian funds if there were concrete progress toward a nuclear agreement.

Reports of new attacks on shipping followed the rejected proposal. Reuters reported that three oil tankers were hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. The Maritime Executive reported three vessels were struck in the strait, OilPrice.com reported three tankers were struck by unknown projectiles, and Anadolu Ajansı reported two tankers were hit by unknown projectiles.

Brent crude settled 2.7% higher at $105.28 a barrel Monday after reaching $108.83, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $92.60. Prices retreated from their session highs as Saudi Arabia reportedly restored about 3.5 million barrels per day of flow through its East-West pipeline and resumed export loadings at Yanbu.