Iran on Thursday, September 24, presented the United States (US) with a seven-day plan aimed at ending the ongoing war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
“If certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within seven days, and talks will start,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi who is in the US for the UN General Assembly said
According to Araghchi, the latest proposal calls for a seven-day cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East, including in Lebanon.
The proposal also calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets estimated to be worth at least $12 billion, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade of Iran.
Under the proposed arrangement, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz on the seventh day of the truce.
Araghchi said he was awaiting a response from the US and maintained that China supported the proposal.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting the US this week, where he is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump for talks.
Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological arm of the country’s military, also said that an end to hostilities in Yemen was among Tehran’s demands.
The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June aimed at ending the war, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and launching talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.
However, the agreement broke down shortly afterwards after Iran fired on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing them of deviating from their approved route through the waterway.
Iran requires ships to obtain authorisation before passing through the strait, citing security and sovereignty concerns.
Ships that refuse to comply have been targeted, while the US has periodically bombed Iranian coastal areas in retaliation.
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