President Donald Trump said Sunday he expects negotiations with Iran to resume in the coming week, even after rejecting a Tehran-backed proposal for a seven-day truce that would have led to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials brought the proposal to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where indirect contacts between Washington and Tehran have continued with Qatar serving as intermediary. Trump told Axios that Iran wants a deal, but not the one he is prepared to accept, and Axios reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that indirect talks could resume as early as Monday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had conveyed a concrete seven-day plan to Washington through Qatari mediators, telling reporters at the UN that the decision now lies with the United States. Under the proposal, a seven-day truce would culminate in the reopening of the Hormuz shipping channel, a critical global energy corridor that has been at the center of the conflict since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran roughly seven months ago.
US officials, including special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, held mediated talks with Iranian counterparts in New York earlier in the week, discussions Trump described as productive. A US official characterized the broader diplomatic track as positive and constructive, though still in an early stage. Trump has separately signaled skepticism about Iran’s willingness to meet US conditions and has floated the possibility of renewed military strikes following the November midterm elections should talks fail to produce results.
Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding in June aimed at ending hostilities, reopening the strait and launching talks over Iran’s nuclear program, an agreement that later broke down. A spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the country would continue efforts against the United States until a separate set of seven conditions is met, adding that ending hostilities in Yemen remains among Tehran’s demands.
