Iran Offers a Two-Day Plan to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz — and the Decision Now Sits in Washington
Tehran says its seven-step plan to end the war can now be carried out in two days instead of seven — US steps on day one, the strait reopened on day two — and its negotiators have left Doha with a draft circulating and no agreement yet announced.
The next move in the eight-month war between the United States and Iran is Washington's to make. Iran said Monday that it is ready to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the United States meets its conditions — a compressed version of the seven-step plan Tehran first presented in September — and its negotiators have left Doha after talks with regional mediators, with a draft proposal now circulating and no agreement announced.
The shape of the offer, as described by Iranian officials, is a sequence: the United States takes initial measures on the first day — ending its naval blockade of Iranian ports, releasing frozen Iranian assets and granting sanctions relief including a waiver on Iranian oil sales — and Iran reopens the strait to maritime traffic on the second day, after which negotiations resume on the outstanding issues, including Iran's nuclear programme. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said consultations involving Qatar and Pakistan helped cut the implementation period from seven days to two.
"The possibility of implementing this plan in two days is another indication of Iran's good-faith approach," Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday, adding that if Iran's demands are met, "it would be possible to restore security to the Strait of Hormuz and resume the negotiating process within a short period." Baghaei said an exchange of messages with the United States through mediators is ongoing and that everything depends on the US side accepting the demands.
For Washington, the decision lands in the middle of election week, with the administration weighing a diplomatic exit from a war that has kept the world's most important energy waterway closed since late February. Reuters reported that an official briefed on the talks said the Iranian delegation's Sunday departure from Doha was not a walkout and that a follow-up meeting remains possible. Neither side has announced an agreement, and both the blockade and the closure remain in place while Washington considers its answer.
