Iran Receives US Response to Latest Ceasefire Proposal for Gulf

Politics13 sourcesSep 30, 2026

Leans leftFactual rigor 65/100

The Story

Iran announced Wednesday it received a US response to its latest proposal to resurrect the collapsed ceasefire in the Gulf.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi presented the US response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting, according to government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani. The contents of the response were not disclosed. The development comes days after President Donald Trump publicly rejected Iran's proposal. Qatari mediators briefed Araqchi on the US response on Tuesday in Doha, as Araqchi returned from New York.

The proposal aims to restore an interim agreement that collapsed weeks after Trump and Pezeshkian signed it in June. The current US-Israeli war against Iran is in its eighth month. Last week, Qatari mediators shuttled between US and Iranian envoys in New York on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting. These were the first proximity talks between the warring sides since the June ceasefire unraveled.

Araqchi had floated a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the US lifted its blockade of Iranian ports, released frozen Iranian assets, and waived sanctions on Iranian oil sales. Trump rejected this proposal on Sunday, stating Iran was “losing so badly” and its offer “would not be acceptable.” Despite Trump's public rejection, mediators continued working to broker a deal.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital route for oil and gas exports. Tehran imposed a blockade on Hormuz after the war started, prompting Washington to respond with its own blockade on Iranian ports. President Pezeshkian stated Iran will “make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition” and “firmly stand up for the rights of the Iranian people,” adding the agreement “must now be based on a win-win strategy.”

The main sticking point in the talks concerns the sequencing of the plan's steps, rather than the components themselves. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Hossein Mohebi stated on Wednesday that they have been striking small vessels attempting to pass through the strait, and the US has not retaliated.

What they agree on

Iran announced on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, that it received a US response to its latest proposal for a ceasefire in the Gulf.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi presented the US response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting.
Iranian officials did not publicly disclose the specific contents of the US response.
The Iranian proposal, floated last week, included conditions such as reopening the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the US lifted its blockade of Iranian ports and waived sanctions on oil sales.
US President Donald Trump had publicly rejected Iran's proposal days before Iran announced receiving the official response, though mediators continued to work on a deal.

Where they split

Some international sources, such as Business Recorder and RTE News, explicitly link Iran's receipt of the US response to the US withdrawal from Iraq, framing it as occurring "as Washington pulls out of Iraq" or "as Washington completed its military withdrawal from Iraq." Other sources, like The Boston Globe and The Independent, focus solely on the diplomatic exchange without directly connecting it to the Iraq withdrawal in their lead.
Al-Monitor and Al Bawaba mention that the main point of contention in the talks concerns the sequencing of the plan's steps, a specific detail not explicitly stated in all other reports.
Business Recorder and RTE News include details about the casualties in the Iraq war (4,500 US troops, over 200,000 Iraqi civilians) as context for Iran viewing the pullout as a victory, while other outlets omit these specific figures.