U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday (September 26, 2026) rejected a truce deal proposed by Iran that Tehran said could have reopened the Strait of Hormuz to shipping within a week.

The waterway is key to the world’s energy supply and is now central to the conflict between the US and Iran, which is at a stalemate after nearly seven months.

“I reject their proposal,” Mr. Trump told reporters outside the White House. “They made a proposal but I’ve rejected it.”

“They want to make a deal where they open the Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly. They want to make a deal and I think that’s fine. I like making a deal too.”

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was on his way back to Tehran after attending the UN General Assembly in New York, told CBS News the proposal had been developed “in coordination” with supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to an excerpt from the video interview shared by Iranian media.

Iran’s plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in West Asia, including in Lebanon, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met earlier in the week with Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

He said the conditions were the same as those laid out in a memorandum of understanding signed with the U.S. earlier this year, which called for the release of frozen Iranian assets, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the U.S. naval blockade.

On the seventh day of the truce, Iran would reopen Hormuz, Mr. Pezeshkian told CBS that the “process will begin from the very day they accept it”.

At the UN, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan complained that the “international community has been absent” and failing to live up to the responsibility to keep the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab open.

“The kingdom rejects any party’s use of these vital passages as a tool for pressure, threat, or harm to the interests of states,” he said, stressing the waterways’ importance to global energy security.

His Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, told member states that “Russia, together with other responsible states, stands ready to constructively contribute to stabilizing this strategically important region.”

In New York, Mr. Pezeshkian met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to his office, and said: “Iran has not walked away from the negotiating table but, given past experiences, it no longer trusts the United States.”

Mr. Araghchi said at the UN: “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.”

“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,” he added.

However, within hours of his comments, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Trump was sceptical that Tehran would meet his demands and expects to renew the U.S. bombing campaign.

Mr. Trump also posted an image to his Truth Social platform of a map showing the Strait of Hormuz circled and labelled “Trump Strait”.

Hossein Mohebi, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying: “We will not cease punishing the U.S. until Iran’s seven conditions are met.”

Hostilities in Yemen

Mr. Mohebi had told AFP in an exclusive interview on Tuesday (September 22, 2026) that ending hostilities in Yemen was also among Tehran’s demands.

Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in June that aimed to end the war, to reopen the strait and to launch talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.

But the deal broke down shortly afterwards 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.

Published – September 27, 2026 01:26 am IST

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran denied on Thursday (May 7, 2026) attacking a South Korean cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz this week, as U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal to end the war was “very possible” but warned Washington would resume bombing if talks failed.

Also read: West Asia war updates on May 7, 2026

Tehran’s embassy in Seoul said it “firmly rejects and categorically denies” allegations that its armed forces were behind a blast aboard the Panama-flagged HMM Namu, which caught fire on Monday (May 4, 2026) while transiting the strategic waterway with 24 crew members on board.

Mr. Trump later claimed Iran had “taken some shots” at the vessel and urged South Korea to join U.S.-led efforts to restore shipping through the strait.

The war, launched by the United States and Israel in late February, saw Iran respond with attacks across West Asia and impose a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, rattling global energy markets.

Despite Mr. Trump’s optimism, Iran has yet to respond to a new US proposal, with its chief negotiator warning that Washington was seeking to force the Islamic republic’s “surrender.”

Signs that the foes could return to the table after weeks of deadlock grew after Mr. Trump halted a short-lived military operation to reopen the strait, citing hopes for a deal.

Trump on peace deal

“We’ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it’s very possible that we’ll make a deal,” Mr. Trump told reporters Wednesday (May 6, 2026).

But he had warned earlier that if Iran did not honour what had been agreed, bombing would resume “at a much higher level and intensity”.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the U.S. proposal remained “under review” and Tehran would communicate its position to mediator Pakistan “after finalising its views”.

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has led Iran’s negotiations, warned that Washington sought “through a naval blockade, economic pressure and media manipulation, to destroy the country’s cohesion in order to force us to surrender”.

U.S. news outlet Axios, citing two officials, reported both sides were close to agreement on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for nuclear negotiations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key figure in initial talks in Islamabad, said he was “very hopeful that the current momentum will lead to a lasting agreement that secures durable peace and stability for the region and beyond”.

Macron presses Tehran

French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call Wednesday that attacks on UAE civilian infrastructure and ships near the strait were “unjustified”, urging all parties to lift their dual blockade in the waterway “without delay and without conditions”.

Pezeshkian told Macron that any full reopening of the strait required the lifting of the US naval blockade, adding that “excessive demands, threatening statements, and failure to adhere to necessary frameworks by the United States have further complicated the path of diplomacy”, according to the Iranian presidency.

The call came as France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle transited the Suez Canal en route to the southern Red Sea, where it will pre-position for a possible multinational mission to restore navigation in the strait.

Mr. Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are leading the initiative, which more than 40 countries have joined in military planning.

Israel-Lebanon

On the Lebanese front, Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday (May 6, 2026) in the first such attack in nearly a month, killing a senior Hezbollah commander from its elite Radwan force, a source close to the Iran-backed group told AFP.

At least 11 others were killed in strikes across the country’s south and east, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military said in a statement Thursday that an “explosive drone impact” had wounded four of its soldiers — one severely — in southern Lebanon the previous day.

Published – May 07, 2026 12:25 pm IST

In the international market, crude prices fell sharply, with Brent oil for the July contract plummeting $11.57, or 10.53%, to $98.30 per barrel.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters