Iran offers US plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz
· RTE.ieIran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that Tehran has offered Washington a plan that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened within a week.
"Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, and normal maritime passage restored within seven days," Mr Araghchi said at the UN yesterday.
"The choice now rests with the United States. Iran does not accept coercion, threats, or intimidation, and Iran will not surrender its sovereign rights under pressure.
"I can tell you if there is seriousness in the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared," he added.
Washington has yet to publicly respond to the offer.
Earlier reports suggest the new plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East for seven days, including in Lebanon.
It also reportedly calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets, estimated to be worth at least $12 billion (€10.5bn), as well as the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade of Iran.
On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military, earlier in the week, said that ending hostilities in Yemen was also among Tehran's demands.
Separately, a senior Iranian official warned that Iran would show no flexibility over its nuclear programme even if the United States accepts its peace deal.
Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out of the country, the official said.
US President Donald Trump has vowed that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons.
The Iranian seven-day proposal comes after previous diplomatic efforts failed to end the war, which began on 28 February.
Since then, the war has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes, killing thousands while degrading Iran's military forces and damaging its economy.
The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June that aimed to end the war, reopen the strait and launch talks on Iran's nuclear programme.
The deal broke down shortly afterward when Iran fired on commercial ships in Hormuz that it accused of deviating from its approved route through the waterway.
Iran requires ships to obtain authorisation before passage, citing security and sovereignty reasons.
Ships that refuse to comply are regularly targeted, while the United States sporadically bombs Iranian coastal areas in retaliation.
Xi and Trump discuss Middle East
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping's discussions turned to the war in Iran at their summit yesterday.
China is highly dependent on the flow of Middle Eastern oil, which has been disrupted by Iranian threats against tankers leaving the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr Xi urged the United States and Iran to return to the June framework agreement that led to a short-lived ceasefire and continue negotiations toward a broader settlement, according to China's state news agency Xinhua.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, warned the Chinese president against providing support to Iran and received assurances that China would not do so, the US ambassador to China said yesterday, the final day of Mr Xi's three-day state visit.
Iran welcomed President Xi's push for a return to the June framework while also placing renewed emphasis on its peace proposal.