US and Iran Hold Separate Talks With Mediators in New Bid to End War and Reopen Strait of Hormuz
By Jahanzaib Saqib — SCN News
WASHINGTON — U.S. and Iranian officials held separate talks with mediators on Monday in a renewed effort to end months of war, keeping diplomacy alive only days after President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s initial seven-day proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Officials from both countries confirmed the contacts, while further negotiations are expected to focus on an amended version of the Iranian plan presented during last week’s United Nations General Assembly.
The latest shuttle diplomacy is being led by Qatar, which has maintained channels with both Washington and Tehran throughout the conflict. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi remained in New York after the UN gathering and was due to meet Qatari mediators on Monday, while intermediaries were separately engaging the U.S. side. The contacts stop short of direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran but represent another attempt to narrow differences after previous ceasefire efforts collapsed.
Trump confirmed on Monday that U.S. officials had spoken with mediators seeking an end to the war, even as he maintained a hard public line toward Tehran. Speaking to reporters, Trump said the United States would win the Iran war “very soon,” underscoring the gap between the diplomatic contacts underway behind the scenes and the continuing military confrontation.
The negotiations are centred on an amended version of a proposal Iran brought to New York last week. Tehran had offered a rapid sequence of steps under which the Strait of Hormuz would reopen within seven days if Washington lifted its naval blockade of Iranian ports, provided sanctions relief for Iranian oil exports, released frozen Iranian assets and observed a ceasefire covering other fronts in the regional conflict. Trump subsequently rejected that proposal in its original form.
Despite that rejection, mediators continued working on revisions rather than abandoning the diplomatic track. Three regional officials and two U.S. officials told the Associated Press that negotiations were continuing over a package that could first reopen Hormuz and lift the U.S. blockade before moving toward broader sanctions relief. Washington, however, is seeking concrete Iranian concessions on its nuclear programme as part of any settlement.
A senior U.S. official said Trump remains open to a non-military resolution if an acceptable agreement can be reached. Another U.S. official said Washington would not conclude a deal until nuclear issues were addressed, with the administration seeking steps including renewed access for nuclear inspectors. The United States could consider sanctions relief and the release of some frozen Iranian funds in return for concrete progress, but officials said the two sides remain far apart over sequencing and which side should act first.
That sequencing dispute has repeatedly complicated negotiations. Tehran wants immediate economic and maritime relief before entering negotiations on a final settlement, while Washington wants evidence of Iranian nuclear concessions and compliance before providing substantial sanctions relief. U.S. officials also remain wary after an interim agreement reached earlier this year collapsed within days amid renewed attacks on commercial shipping.
Hormuz remains at the centre of the negotiations because disruption to the waterway has given Tehran significant leverage while imposing costs far beyond the battlefield. Before the conflict, roughly one-fifth of globally traded oil and gas moved through the strait, making prolonged disruption a major source of pressure on energy markets and economies dependent on Gulf supplies.
The draft now being discussed would seek to reopen the strait through a separate arrangement involving Iran and Oman, according to officials familiar with the talks. That framework would temporarily regulate shipping through the waterway without imposing the tolls Tehran had previously pursued, while negotiations over the broader U.S.-Iran dispute continued.
Oil markets continue to reflect the uncertainty surrounding the negotiations. Brent crude remained above $108 a barrel on Monday as traders weighed the possibility of diplomatic progress against continued supply disruptions and the risk that the fighting could intensify if the talks fail.
Iran’s latest proposal is considerably faster than the framework contained in an earlier agreement reached in June. That arrangement envisaged a 60-day interim period, while Tehran’s new proposal sought to complete initial steps within four or five days, reopen Hormuz on the sixth day and begin negotiations with Washington on a final agreement on the seventh.
Araghchi has said the seven-day timetable would begin once Washington accepted the plan. Tehran has also indicated that the talks could revive negotiations over its nuclear programme, one of Washington’s principal demands, but the two sides have not agreed on the order in which nuclear concessions, sanctions relief, maritime measures and a ceasefire would occur.
The diplomatic push follows another round of indirect engagement during UNGA81. Trump said last Tuesday that his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had participated in roughly three hours of discussions with Iranian representatives through mediators in New York. Witkoff described that engagement as potentially constructive, while Trump said the Iranian representatives involved were not Tehran’s highest-level officials.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian used his own UN address to insist that Iran would not be forced into surrender while maintaining that diplomacy remained possible. Iran and the United States nevertheless remained far apart following those contacts, particularly over the conditions required to stop the fighting and restore unrestricted commercial traffic through Hormuz.
Araghchi also met UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday. According to the UN account cited by AP, Guterres welcomed the diplomatic efforts undertaken over the previous week and urged the parties to continue negotiations.
The proposed settlement extends beyond Hormuz. Tehran’s original offer sought an end to hostilities on multiple fronts, including Lebanon, where Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have largely operated under a ceasefire. The renewed conflict involving Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi Arabia has added another complication, particularly because Houthi forces can threaten shipping around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
Iranian officials have argued that the Houthi-Saudi confrontation is separate from the U.S.-Iran war, although Tehran has indicated that it could assist efforts to find a settlement between Riyadh and the Houthis. Saudi Arabia has shown greater caution toward the latest Iranian proposal after renewed Houthi attacks and threats to regional infrastructure.
The economic pressure on both sides has increased the urgency surrounding the talks. Iran is contending with U.S. sanctions, restrictions on its oil exports and a naval blockade, while the United States faces higher energy prices resulting from disrupted Gulf shipping. Previous attempts to create protected or unrestricted shipping arrangements through Hormuz have failed to produce a lasting solution.