US President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and has told aides that he expects US bombing of Iran to resume after the November midterm elections, according to US officials cited by The Washington Post.
Tehran had proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz and restarting nuclear negotiations with Washington as part of the seven-day arrangement.
Under the proposal, the United States would lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, ease sanctions on Iranian oil exports and observe a ceasefire that would include Lebanon. In return, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks with Washington over its nuclear programme.
Trump has said Tehran is seeking a post-midterm agreement that would require Iran to dismantle its nuclear programme. However, according to The Washington Post, Trump privately remains doubtful that Iran would accept his demands and has told aides that renewed US bombing could be necessary.
The report also said Trump is hesitant to resume major combat operations, partly because the United States wants to conserve its dwindling stockpile of munitions for other potential contingencies.
What was Iran’s seven-day proposal?
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had presented Washington with a seven-day framework under which the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened and nuclear negotiations resumed.
“If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days. The choice now rests with the United States,” Araghchi said.
He added that the seven-day period would begin once Washington accepted the proposal.
Under the plan, the United States would lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observe a ceasefire that would include Lebanon.
Araghchi said the initial measures would take four to five days, allowing the Strait of Hormuz to reopen on the sixth day. On the seventh day, negotiations with the United States would begin on the remaining issues required to reach a final agreement.
He said the measures Washington would be required to take were already outlined in a memorandum of understanding reached between Iran and the United States in June.
“The actions that the United States should take are not new. They are all already in the MOU,” he said.
The proposal was communicated through Qatar, which has played an important role in mediating between Tehran and Washington.
US rejects lifting maritime blockade
The Trump administration has informed Iran and regional mediators that the president does not intend to lift the maritime blockade, according to officials familiar with the matter who spoke to The Washington Post.
Washington believes maintaining economic pressure could eventually persuade Tehran to accept an agreement on terms favourable to the United States and Arab states in the Persian Gulf.
A US official said Washington and Tehran were continuing negotiations through mediators, including discussions over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The official also said a US-led effort to keep oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iranian threats had reduced the immediate pressure to reach an agreement.
The White House said US officials were engaged in positive and constructive discussions with mediators and that Washington was working to facilitate oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump says Iran must abandon nuclear ambitions
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly this week, Trump said domestic politics would not influence his approach to Iran.
“The Republican Party is running, and I’ll be helping them, but I am not running. I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence through the election when it comes to Iran,” he said.
Trump added that the central objective was to ensure that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.”
At the same time, Trump has urged Republicans to campaign as though he himself were on the ballot in the midterm elections.
His current position suggests the conflict could move toward renewed hostilities, although US officials have cautioned that Trump’s position could change as the conflict develops and the midterm elections approach.
Throughout the conflict, Trump has alternated between diplomacy, military action and economic pressure. He has declared victory while also ordering strikes and imposing additional sanctions on Tehran.
He has periodically threatened broader military action to pressure Iran into making concessions, before later stepping back from some of his more expansive threats.
Why the Strait of Hormuz matters
The Strait of Hormuz has become one of Iran’s most important sources of leverage in its confrontation with Washington.
Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passed through the strategic waterway, according to the report. Disruptions to shipping have affected global energy markets and increased pressure on the Trump administration ahead of the US midterm elections.
Iran’s latest proposal directly links the reopening of the waterway to the lifting of the US blockade, sanctions relief and the resumption of diplomatic negotiations over its nuclear programme.
The proposal resembles an interim arrangement discussed in June, although the latest framework has a considerably shorter timeline.
The earlier proposal envisaged a 60-day interim period and included sanctions relief on oil exports, access to frozen Iranian assets and recognition of a role for Tehran in administering the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for reopening the waterway.
That arrangement later collapsed after Iran resumed attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar pushes for renewed diplomacy
Qatar and other regional mediators have been working to revive indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States around the UN General Assembly.
According to people familiar with the discussions, Iranian officials proposed a seven-day pause in fighting that could lead to an end to attacks on shipping in exchange for Washington lifting its blockade.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also hosted Qatar’s prime minister as diplomatic contacts intensified.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that “if there’s an opportunity to exchange ideas and messages, we will.”
However, repeated failures to reach a lasting agreement have left both sides deeply distrustful.
Hamidreza Azizi, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Tehran may have anticipated that the latest proposal would be rejected.
“The Iranians already know that the chances of this not being accepted by Trump are much higher than the opposite,” he wrote on X.
Azizi said Tehran may have wanted to demonstrate that it remained open to diplomacy and that Washington was instead responsible for returning to military action during an ongoing diplomatic process.
Iran faces internal divisions over diplomacy
Iranian officials have attempted to project unity, but the latest diplomatic initiative has highlighted disagreements within Tehran over how the country should respond to Washington.
Some hard-line figures have called for continued military action and criticised President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for pursuing negotiations.
Firebrand lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei wrote on X that meeting with “the aggressor enemy” amounted to showing weakness.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for appointing the supreme leader, said that “there is no path other than resistance.”
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who previously served as a chief negotiator with the United States, acknowledged differences within Iran’s leadership.
“There is a view that speaks of war but offers no prospect or mechanism for bringing it to a powerful conclusion,” he wrote on social media. “At the opposite end is a current that makes the error of underestimating national capabilities.”
He added that the first approach risked keeping Iran in a state of permanent crisis, while the second could leave the country’s resources and national interests vulnerable.
Araghchi said more than 5,000 people had been killed in Iran during the nearly seven-month US-Israeli war.
Yemen conflict complicates Iran’s proposal
Iran’s proposal specifically refers to a ceasefire involving Lebanon, where Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have largely maintained a ceasefire.
However, it remains unclear whether the proposal would also apply to the renewed conflict involving Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia.
Houthi attacks have placed additional pressure on global energy markets and raised concerns about another strategic maritime chokepoint: the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
Iran appears to regard the Houthis’ ability to threaten the Bab el-Mandeb as another potential source of leverage in negotiations with Washington.
Saudi Arabia has previously supported a return to negotiations and, according to a person familiar with the discussions, had been open to an arrangement that would give Iran a temporary role in managing the Strait of Hormuz.
However, Saudi calculations changed after the Houthis seized Yemen’s strategic Red Sea coast from pro-government forces and a vital Saudi pipeline came under attack.
An earlier planned meeting of Gulf leaders in Oman to discuss an emerging Oman-Iran agreement on Hormuz was also cancelled after Saudi Arabia sought amendments to the proposed arrangement.
