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WASHINGTON — Iran has offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a seven-day period if the US agrees to end its blockade and military pressure campaign, according to a report.
The pitch was conveyed to US officials last week as both sides explored whether they can revive peace talks as their leaders converge on New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, Reuters said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked Tuesday about a potential related meeting between President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the UNGA, replied, “Common sense tells you there’s no harm in engaging and talking to someone.
“In fact, if you do talk to them, you may at least get insights into who they are and what they’re thinking,” he told “Fox & Friends.”
“Maybe nothing good will come of it, but nothing bad would come of it.”
Pezeshkian is widely seen as a more moderate figure within Iranian leadership. So far, there are no indications that a Pezeshkian-Trump powwow will take place on the sidelines of the UNGA.
But a senior Iranian official seemed to support the idea, telling Reuters, “The US needs to announce that it wants to resolve the issue diplomatically, make that official and then agree on a timeline for how the process will move forward.
“The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy.”
A prior preliminary peace deal framework with Iran, known as a Memorandum of Understanding, collapsed in July. Iran then fully resumed its campaign of stoking havoc in the Strait of Hormuz, where nearly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies usually flow through annually.
Complicating past negotiations with Iran was a sense that Iran’s civilian and military leaders were out of sync with each other on their demands, top Trump administration officials have said.
US officials have insisted that despite Iran’s efforts, they are getting oil through the Strait of Hormuz by using routes close to the shores of Oman, with Central Command claiming last week to have gotten 1 billion barrels through within the past several months.
But passage through routes close to Iran’s shores has been seen as perilous because of concerns about mines and the theocratic regime carrying out drone attacks on the oil vessels.
Rubio stressed that the Trump administration has “cleared” the critical waterway of mines and underscored how “no oil” from Iran is getting through thanks to the blockade, either.
Still, Iran’s proxies have found other ways to cause chaos, with a drone strike earlier this month forcing the Saudis to briefly shutdown their East-West Pipeline, which caused oil prices to jump.
“That’s a dangerous conflict, obviously, because what it’s done is — it’s not just the Houthis,” Rubio said of the conflict being widened by rogue groups such as the Yemen terrorists.
“These Kata’ib Hezbollah out of Iraq, which is an Iranian proxy, also fired into Saudi Arabia, and it has shut down their main pipeline,” Rubio said.
“That pipeline needs to get restarted. We have a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia. We intend to live up to our commitments on it.”
Trump has contemplated retaliation against the Houthis but opted to hold off amid theUNGA, Axios reported.
Over the weekend, the Islamic Republic’s central military command warned that it would retaliate “without limitations and considerations” if the US resumed military operations against it.
English (US)