Iran says it is “fully prepared” for its war with the United States to resume after President Donald Trump publicly rejected Tehran’s plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, though Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted on Sunday, Sept. 27, that diplomacy is not over and that Iran is still awaiting a formal U.S. answer through mediators.
“We are fully prepared for the war to be resumed,” Araghchi told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” according to NBC News. “At the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose.” He said Trump’s rejection had not yet been officially conveyed to Tehran.
Trump Rejects Iran’s Strait of Hormuz Offer
Iran had offered this week to restore normal shipping through the strait within seven days, in a proposal passed to Washington through Qatar on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Trump told reporters on Saturday he had turned it down, saying Iran wanted to open the strait immediately “because they’re losing so badly,” NBC reported. Our earlier report on Iran’s seven-day roadmap to end the war outlined the original offer.
According to Al Jazeera, Tehran’s seven conditions include lifting the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, releasing frozen Iranian funds, and ending attacks on all fronts, including Israel’s campaign in Lebanon—largely a return to the June memorandum of understanding that collapsed within days. Iran also wants any reopening handled through a bilateral arrangement with Oman, the only other country with territorial waters in the strait.
Waltz Calls the Proposal “Cynical”
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, speaking on the same program, said Washington could not allow Iran access to billions of dollars in frozen assets and described the offer as “a pretty cynical attempt” to table terms Tehran knew were unacceptable. Waltz said Trump would keep “all options on the table” and declined to spell out what deal the president would accept.
Araghchi, asked about a Wall Street Journal report that Trump could resume bombing after the U.S. midterm elections, said Iran does not “care about U.S. midterm elections.” Trump said earlier in the week that he expected a deal “right after the election,” according to NBC.
Shipping Attacks and the U.S. Blockade
Hours after Trump’s rejection, Iranian media reported explosions near Qeshm Island in the strait, Al Jazeera said, though Iranian authorities did not confirm any attacks. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says the waterway is closed to ships that do not coordinate with Tehran, and on Sunday released video of what it called a second U.S. underwater drone seized this month. Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority has also threatened to blacklist charterers that order crews onto routes it considers unauthorized.
Washington, for its part, says its warships are escorting tankers out by another route. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright put crude in transit at a running average of nearly 13 million barrels a day, and U.S. Central Command says it has redirected 122 commercial vessels while enforcing the blockade on Iranian ports. Those figures could not be independently verified, and Tehran accuses Washington of exaggerating its control of the strait.
What Comes Next for the Gulf
Andreas Krieg of King’s College London told Al Jazeera the most likely path is “controlled attrition” rather than a return to the massive air campaign of the war’s opening months, with further attacks on tankers and regional infrastructure followed by limited U.S. strikes on IRGC maritime assets. That risk already extends beyond Hormuz, as seen in France’s deployment of troops to guard Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu terminal and the defiant tone of President Pezeshkian’s U.N. speech. For now, both sides are publicly dug in, and the mediators—Pakistan, Qatar and Oman—hold the only open channel.