U.S. President Donald Trump discussed a new Iranian proposal with his top national security aides Monday as Tehran offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. lifting its blockade on Iran and ending the war, regional officials said.
Under the proposal, discussion of Iran’s nuclear program would be set aside until after the war ends and shipping disputes in the Gulf are resolved. The offer is unlikely to satisfy Washington, which says nuclear issues must be addressed from the outset.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “I wouldn’t say they’re considering it, there was a discussion this morning that I don’t want to get ahead of, and you’ll hear directly from the president.”
Work to bridge gaps between the U.S. and Iran has not stopped, Pakistani mediators said, despite the absence of face-to-face diplomacy after Trump canceled a weekend trip by his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Islamabad.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Pakistan twice over the weekend, also traveled to Oman and met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia on Monday.
Oil prices rose Monday as the sides remained far apart on Iran’s nuclear program and access through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy shipments.
Senior Iranian sources said the proposal carried by Araghchi to Islamabad envisioned talks in stages. The first step would require ending the U.S.-Israel war on Iran and guarantees that Washington would not restart it. Negotiators would then address the U.S. blockade and the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran wants to reopen under its control. Only afterward would talks turn to Iran’s nuclear program.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a reported Iranian offer to reopen the strait under strict conditions was not acceptable.
Iran has largely blocked all shipping apart from its own from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began. This month, the U.S. began blockading Iranian ships.
Six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the U.S. blockade in recent days, ship-tracking data shows. Between 125 and 140 ships normally crossed the strait daily before the war, but only seven did so in the past day, according to Kpler ship-tracking data and satellite analysis from SynMax.
U.N. officials and dozens of countries called Monday for urgent action to reopen the waterway. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the consequences of the “worst supply chain disruption since COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.”
Airlines worldwide have begun canceling flights as the war strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up oil prices. U.S. stocks were mixed Monday as oil prices rose.
First published: 21:46, 04.27.26