Trump rejects Iran's seven-day offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
The president said he turned down a proposal that would have opened the waterway within a week in exchange for lifting the US naval blockade.
Assembled by Claude from 15 sources at 15 outlets · Saturday, September 26, 2026, Evening edition, 5:25 PM EDT · no human byline
What happened
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had turned down Iran's latest ceasefire proposal, which offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks nytimes.com. "They have made a proposal and I rejected it," Trump said axios.com. He called the Iranian plan not "acceptable" npr.org. The Financial Times reported the offer as a new seven-day ceasefire meant to reopen the strait and start broader talks ft.com.
Tehran's proposal reached US officials through mediators and would have reopened the strait and restarted peace talks within seven days washingtonpost.com. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, presented it to Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff a day earlier on the sidelines of a United Nations gathering in New York france24.com, having previously set out seven conditions for ending the war and reopening the waterway afp.com. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei backed the plan channelnewsasia.com and that a six-member team would carry it out today.lorientlejour.com.
The offer was conditional on the United States ending its military blockade of Iranian ports and releasing frozen Iranian assets fortune.com. Trump said Iran had "outsmarted themselves" over the strait foxnews.com, and confirmed the rejection in remarks to reporters timesofisrael.com.
Why it matters to investors
The blockade the proposal sought to lift is still being enforced. US Central Command said that as of 25 September it had diverted 122 commercial ships since the naval blockade on Iran resumed ground.news. Trump posted a map of the waterway labelling it the "Trump Strait" fortune.com.
The two sides are not negotiating over the same thing. Iran wants any talks to focus on the strait and the blockade, while the administration demands that Tehran agree to nuclear concessions, and the gaps on the key issues remain very wide axios.com. Qatar and other regional mediators are trying to revive negotiations axios.com. Canadian and Singaporean broadcasters reported the rejection as ending, for now, the clearest route to reopening the waterway and halting the fighting cbc.cachannelnewsasia.com.
What to watch
Trump said the United States would be "blowing up the whole country" if Iran does not reach a deal within 48 hours abcnews.com. Against that, a US official said discussions between the two governments through mediators are still "positive and constructive" axios.com.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has issued a warning to American companies it says were used in assassinations abcnews.com. The White House position, as Trump framed it, is that Iran should immediately open the strait foxnews.com. Whether Central Command's diversion of merchant traffic continues at the pace it has reported is the most direct read on whether the blockade is being relaxed ground.news.
Sources
- nytimes.com: Trump Rejects Iran's Cease-Fire Proposal to Reopen Strait of Hormuz (2026-09-26)
- washingtonpost.com: Trump rejects Iran's proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz , restart peace talks (2026-09-26)
- ft.com: Trump rejects Iran's ceasefire proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz - Financial Times (2026-09-26)
- npr.org: Trump calls Iranian plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz not 'acceptable' - NPR (2026-09-26)
- cbc.ca: Trump rejects Iranian proposal to open Strait of Hormuz and end fighting | CBC News (2026-09-26)
- fortune.com: After Iran's new offer on Strait of Hormuz , Trump posts a map calling it the 'Trump Strait' | Fortune (2026-09-26)
- foxnews.com: Trump says Iran 'outsmarted themselves' over the Strait of Hormuz - Fox News (2026-09-26)
- timesofisrael.com: Trump confirms he rejected Iranian proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz | The Times of Israel (2026-09-26)
- france24.com: Trump reportedly rejects Iran's seven-day plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz - France 24 (2026-09-26)
- afp.com: Iran proposes Hormuz plan, Trump reportedly refuses - AFP.com (2026-09-26)
- ground.news: The U.S. Navy Intercepted 122 Merchant Ships Following the Resumption of the Blockade on Iran (2026-09-25)
- axios.com: Trump says he rejected the latest Iranian proposal (2026-09-26)
- abcnews.com: Trump says we're 'blowing up the whole country' if Iran doesn't make deal in 48 hours (2026-09-26)
- channelnewsasia.com: Trump rejects Iranian proposal to open Hormuz and end fighting - CNA (2026-09-26)
- today.lorientlejour.com: New Iranian offer to reopen Hormuz approved by supreme leader , Pezeshkian says (2026-09-26)