President Donald Trump has dismissed Irans proposed seven?day roadmap to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and has privately indicated he anticipates U.S. military strikes against the Islamic Republic will likely resume after the November midterm elections.
As reported by Breitbart, the Wall Street Journal disclosed on Friday that Trump rejected Tehrans latest offer and has told advisers he views another bombing campaign as probable, according to U.S. officials familiar with his thinking. The administration has also informed both Iranian interlocutors and regional mediators that the president has no intention of lifting the maritime blockade on Iranian ports, with Washington wagering that sustained economic and naval pressure will eventually compel Tehran to accept terms advantageous to the United States and its Persian Gulf allies.
The president underscored his stance on Friday night by posting an image on Truth Social depicting the Strait of Hormuz encircled in blue and labeled, TRUMP STRAIT. Officials say Trump remains deeply doubtful that Iran will meet his conditions on its nuclear program, reflecting a broader conservative skepticism toward the regimes promises after years of deception and stonewalling.
The precise scale and character of any future U.S. strikes remain uncertain, and Trump has not yet made an irrevocable decision to restart large?scale combat operations. Advisers note that he is hesitant to launch a major campaign in part because Washington aims to conserve munitions for other potential crises, while also cautioning that his calculus could shift in the coming weeks and may be influenced by the outcome of the midterm elections.
Despite the rejection of the current Iranian proposal, diplomatic contacts have not ceased. A U.S. official told the outlet that Washington and Tehran are still communicating through intermediaries, including on nuclear issues, even as an American?led effort to shepherd oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz in the face of Iranian threats has eased the immediate pressure on the United States to strike a deal.
Earlier Friday, a U.S. official familiar with the indirect talks characterized them as positive and constructive. That cautiously optimistic description, however, sits uneasily alongside Tehrans continued intransigence on core nuclear demands and its ongoing military provocations.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday publicly outlined what he described as a concrete seven-day plan that Tehran had relayed to Washington via Qatar. Under this proposal, the United States would lift its naval blockade of Iran, waive sanctions on Iranian oil exports, release frozen Iranian assets, and observe a ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, while Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and commence negotiations with Washington over its nuclear program.
According to the report, Iran first floated the idea of a seven?day pause during a meeting in Qatar on Sunday, after which regional mediators worked the corridors around the United Nations General Assembly in New York in an attempt to revive and accelerate negotiations. Araghchi made clear that the seven?day countdown would begin only once Washington formally accepted the plan, underscoring Tehrans insistence that the United States move first.
*If they accept this plan tomorrow, the seven days will start from tomorrow,* he said. Araghchi added that the steps demanded of Washington could be completed within roughly four to five days, enabling Iran to reopen the strait on the sixth day and begin talks with the United States over a final agreement on the seventh.
*If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared,* he said. *The choice now rests with the United States.*
The proposal is designed to revive and accelerate the framework of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding reached between Washington and Tehran in June. That understanding collapsed after Iran resumed attacks on commercial shipping in the strait, prompting renewed U.S. military action, while Tehran has since accused Washington of violating the agreement and is now demanding a return to its terms.
Iranian diplomats have floated several ceasefire and de?escalation concepts to regional mediators and have privately acknowledged the worsening economic crisis inside Iran, according to the report. Yet Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has resisted new formulas for compromise and is reportedly prepared for a drawn?out confrontation, preferring terms closer to the preliminary June arrangement, which included sanctions relief, access to frozen assets, and a formal Iranian role in administering the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for reopening the waterway.
Washington, for its part, has increasingly signaled that it sees little justification for relinquishing its hard?won economic and maritime leverage at the outset. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Friday that the United States was severing the Iranian governments financial lifelines through its economic pressure campaign and emphasized that Trump holds all the cards.
Pigott noted that more oil was transiting the Strait of Hormuz each day and stressed that any eventual agreement with Tehran would have to be strictly actions-based. A U.S. official said that roughly 40 million barrels of oil had passed through the strait in the preceding 48 hours, underscoring that the U.S.-led convoy and escort operations are keeping global energy supplies flowing despite Iranian threats.
U.S. Central Command separately reported Friday that American forces had redirected 122 commercial vessels to ensure compliance with Washingtons blockade, up from 115 just two days earlier. The success of this U.S.-led effort to keep tankers moving through Hormuz has further reduced Washingtons urgency to accept what many in conservative circles view as a lopsided Iranian proposal that would reward aggression and hostage?taking tactics.
The diplomatic divide between the two sides extends well beyond the question of the blockade. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday that Tehran would show no flexibility on its nuclear program even if Washington accepted the Hormuz plan, insisting that Iran would neither relinquish what it claims is its sovereign right to enrich uranium on its own soil nor agree to U.S. demands that its highly enriched uranium be shipped out of the country.
Tehran has separately hinted that it might be willing to dilute its most highly enriched uranium stockpile. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Fox Newss Bret Baier on Thursday that Iran was prepared to dilute the material and allow international verification of its nuclear activities.
*We said were willing to dilute them. Its not a big deal. We are willing to submit ourselves to verification,* Pezeshkian said. That distinction, however, leaves the central dispute unresolved, as Iran offers technical adjustments on concentration and monitoring while refusing to abandon domestic enrichment or export its most sensitive stockpile.
Even as its diplomats talk of compromise, Tehran has continued to apply military pressure. IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said Friday that the Revolutionary Guard would maintain military operations against the United States until Tehrans conditions were met, according to Irans semi?official ISNA news agency.
*Our missiles are capable of destroying US multilayered air defense systems,* he said. Mohebbi further claimed that Washington was merely portraying the Strait of Hormuz as open in order to prevent a spike in oil prices, while arguing that the United States, despite fielding the worlds largest navy, was unable to keep the waterway consistently open.
Trump, addressing world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, warned Iran that time was not on its side and that it needed to move swiftly toward an agreement. He reiterated that the United States would never allow Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon, reflecting a red line that has long underpinned conservative foreign?policy thinking on Iran.
The president also urged the international community to support Irans comprehensive economic isolation while leaving open the possibility of a deal if Tehran fundamentally altered its behavior. Trump insisted that the looming midterm elections would not dictate his Iran strategy or his willingness to use force if necessary.
*The Republican Party is running, and Ill be helping them, but I am not running,* Trump told world leaders. *I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence through the election when it comes to Iran.*
*The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,* Trump added. Araghchi on Friday again placed the burden for the next step squarely on Washington, repeating, *The choice now rests with the United States.*
By Friday night, Trump had formally rejected Tehrans latest seven?day proposal and told aides he expects U.S. strikes to resume after the midterms, according to the report, though officials emphasized that the scope of any future operation remains undecided and the presidents position could still evolve. For now, the White House appears determined to maintain maximum economic and maritime pressure, betting that Irans deepening internal crisis and the success of U.S. convoy operations in Hormuz will eventually force the regime to accept an agreement on American terms rather than on the terms dictated by a revolutionary theocracy that continues to threaten U.S. forces and allies.
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