US and Iran Renew Diplomatic Push to End Seven-Month Conflict

The Arab News

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

US and Iranian officials held separate talks with mediators on Monday as part of renewed efforts to end seven months of conflict, according to officials from both countries.

Reuters reported that any further negotiations are expected to centre on a revised version of a seven-day proposal that Iran presented last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, citing an official briefed on the talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who remained in New York after attending the General Assembly, said Tehran expected to receive Washington’s response to its latest ceasefire proposals, as well as its conditions for restoring maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

"If the Americans claim they are seeking an agreement or a peaceful solution, we have presented that solution," Araghchi said.

US officials separately spoke with mediators on Monday, US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House, without giving further details.

Iran's seven-day plan envisages an end to all hostilities in Iran and Lebanon, the unfreezing of billions of dollars' worth of Iranian assets, an end to sanctions on Iranian oil and the lifting of the US blockade on Iranian ports.

Iran would then allow the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for oil tankers, and the two sides would also resume ⁠talks on Iran's nuclear program and Trump's wish to seize or eliminate its highly enriched uranium.

Trump said on Saturday he had rejected Iran's proposal, saying Iran wanted a swift agreement because of the crippling economic pressure it is under. However, he also told Axios on ⁠Sunday that he expected US negotiators to engage in further talks this week.

Araghchi said on Sunday that mediators had not formally conveyed a US rejection, and that Iran was awaiting Washington's definitive position before deciding its next steps.

"Our conditions are ⁠clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met," he said on Sunday, adding that only a negotiated solution could resolve the impasse.

Source: Reuters




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