Araghchi briefs Iranian president on US proposal, IRNA reports
State media say the foreign minister raised the plan with the president, days after Iran's own deadline for a US reply passed unanswered.
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Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, discussed a US proposal with the Iranian president, the state news agency IRNA reported. Araghchi had already briefed the cabinet on the proposal's arrival.
The terms under discussion would let traffic move freely through the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the United States easing its blockade of Iranian ports. Qatari mediators had floated linking Iran's blockade demand to US nuclear concessions, but that optimism unraveled after President Trump denied offering Tehran anything, which stalled the talks again. Iran's own Tuesday deadline for a US reply on reopening the strait passed without an answer, and Iran has repeated that it will not compromise on its nuclear rights. Trump himself said this week that Iran is doing very poorly and that he is uncertain whether the country will capitulate.
For crude oil and the ETF that tracks it, USO, the news adds little beyond confirmation that the proposal already on the table is now being discussed at the presidential level rather than just among officials. Given how quickly past claims of progress have collapsed once Trump weighed in personally, a discussion between Araghchi and the president reads as procedural rather than a sign of a breakthrough. Nothing here shows movement on Hormuz access, the naval blockade or sanctions terms, the sticking points Iran has said must be resolved first. That leaves the Hormuz-linked risk premium in crude intact, with USO likely to stay little changed until there is a signed outcome or an actual shift in shipping.