Trump Signals New Iran Talks as Tehran Disputes Control of Strait of Hormuz
US President Donald Trump says he expects further negotiations with Iran within days, even as Tehran rejects his account of the Strait of Hormuz and insists its terms for any deal remain unchanged.
US President Donald Trump has said he expects further talks with Iran as soon as this week, even after dismissing the latest Iranian proposal as unacceptable, while officials in Tehran countered that his public remarks do not alter the situation on the ground.
In a phone interview with Axios on Sunday, Trump said Iran wants an agreement but that the terms on offer fall short of what Washington is prepared to accept. «I expect more talks with Iran. They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand,» he said. The comments came a day after he rejected the Iranian peace proposal outright.
Trump also confirmed that a return to full-scale hostilities remains an option, saying he has «always» been thinking about renewing strikes. He further claimed that over the weekend the United States facilitated the transfer of more than 20 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, describing it as the largest volume in months though still below pre-war levels.
Tehran has challenged that account. A security official in the Iranian capital, speaking to RT, dismissed the president's remarks as «media rhetoric» that does not change the «realities on the ground.» According to the official, 20 vessels were halted while transiting the strait over a 48-hour period, including seven last night and 13 the night before. The official suggested Trump's claims were an attempt at oil market manipulation.
«There is no operational and sustainable mechanism for safe navigation through this strategic waterway outside the framework established and approved by the Islamic Republic of Iran,» the official said, adding that Trump «cannot calm energy markets or conceal the costs of his blockade and hostile policies through show-off and social media posts.»
The Iranian proposal at the center of the dispute would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the lifting of the US naval blockade and the resumption of nuclear negotiations. Earlier on Sunday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi restated the terms of that plan while signalling both openness to further talks and a readiness to continue the conflict, «even if it comes to a doomsday war.»
«We want our assets, which are illegally frozen, to be released. We want to be able to sell our oil. We want certain things that the US has already committed itself [to] in the previous deals,» Araghchi told NBC, referring to a June memorandum of understanding.
The exchange leaves the two sides describing the same waterway in sharply different terms. Washington portrays the weekend oil movement as evidence that pressure is working and that Iran is eager for a settlement. Tehran presents the same period as proof that it retains the ability to control traffic through the strait and that no durable arrangement can function without its consent.
Reporting by the Wall Street Journal has suggested that Trump not only discarded the Iranian proposal but also told aides he expected a renewed bombing campaign against the country after the November midterm elections in the United States. That account, if accurate, would place the current diplomatic signals alongside preparations for a possible military escalation.
For now, the immediate question is whether the talks Trump anticipates will materialize and on what basis. The president's suggestion that Iran «overplayed its hand» points to a demand for terms more favorable to Washington than those discussed a year ago, while Araghchi's insistence on frozen assets, oil sales and prior commitments indicates Tehran is not prepared to abandon the framework it has set out.
The Strait of Hormuz remains the focal point of the standoff. Any interruption to shipping there carries consequences for global energy markets, and both sides are competing to define whether traffic through the waterway is returning to normal or remains subject to Iranian control. With Trump keeping strikes on the table and Iran warning of the costs of the blockade, the coming days will test whether the anticipated talks produce movement or merely another round of competing claims.
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