Iran expects US response on Hormuz today: Araghchi

Qatari mediators will present Washington with new ideas discussed with Tehran on meeting Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said late Monday, adding that a US response could reach Tehran on Tuesday. Speaking to Iranian reporters in New York, Araghchi said he had held another meeting with Qatari mediators to discuss possible ways to implement Tehran’s conditions. “They had ideas, and we discussed how a way could be found to meet Iran’s conditions and how those conditions could be fulfilled, ” he said, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency. The mediators will now take those ideas to the US side before relaying Washington’s response to Tehran, Araghchi said. “I hope this will happen by tomorrow, ” he added. Araghchi said he would leave New York for Tehran within hours, while the Qatari mediators would convey the US response once it was received. He said communication through Qatari and Pakistani mediators had remained open but intensified after Iran presented its latest proposal. Araghchi added that Tehran had also used meetings in New York to communicate to Washington and the international community the conditions it says must be met for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen. Separately, a Reuters report said that US and Iranian officials spoke separately with mediators on Monday as part of a renewed effort to end seven months of war, according to officials of both countries. Any further talks are expected to focus on an amended version of a seven-day proposal that Iran presented last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran expected to receive the US response to its latest ceasefire proposals and its conditions for restoring passage of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to state news agency IRNA. “If the Americans claim they are seeking an agreement or a peaceful solution, we have presented that solution, ” Araghchi said. US officials separately spoke with mediators on Monday, US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House, without giving further details.

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