The confusion deepened on Sunday. An informed source in Tehran told the Tasnim News Agency that the report of a Hormuz-for-blockade offer, carried by Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, was "lies and fantasies," fabricated like many of that outlet's other reports about Iran. The offer had been aired openly by Iran's ambassador to Pakistan at a seminar in Islamabad — and Tehran's own source now dismisses it, a sign there is no single, uniform voice speaking for Iran on the strait.
The source said Iran fundamentally does not accept any equation of the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the blockade, that it had submitted no new proposal to the Pakistani mediators, and that its seven-point plan, already conveyed to the United States, remains Tehran's stated position.
Until all of Iran's legitimate demands are met — one of which is ending interference with Iran's ports and maritime shipping — the insecurity imposed in the Strait of Hormuz will not be eliminated, the source said, adding that Iran is circumventing the blockade through its own methods and would ultimately break it, and that the cause of the insecurity is America's aggressive actions.
Iran's ambassador to Pakistan, Reza Amiri Moghadam, said at a seminar in Islamabad that Iran had conveyed through Pakistan that it was prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the United States lifted its naval blockade — and he accused President Donald Trump of rejecting the proposal by insisting the blockade of Iranian ports would continue.
But inside Iran, the message was the opposite. Iranian media, citing informed sources, rejected the reports as "a lie and fabrication," saying Tehran had made no new proposal to the Pakistani mediator and does not accept any arrangement based on exchanging the Strait of Hormuz for the blockade. The sources said only Iran's existing seven-day plan — its conditions for reopening the waterway, conveyed to the Americans earlier through mediators — still stands.
So the world heard an offer, and Iran's home audience heard a denial. No American confirmation of any new offer has been given; the claim that Trump rejected one is the ambassador's account.
The June interim deal — brokered by Pakistan and Qatar — was meant to restore shipping through the strait, lift the U.S. blockade and open negotiations toward a broader deal on Iran's nuclear program. President Masoud Pezeshkian, in remarks broadcast on state television on Saturday, blamed the United States for the deal's failure but said a new attempt should be made: "We were having negotiations, the cowards messed everything up. I still think we should go and conclude it." He added that many Iranians lack basic food because of the country's economic situation and U.S. sanctions.
On the military side, General Ali Abdollahi, chief of Iran's joint military command, warned the same week that Iran would not allow U.S. warships to enter the Persian Gulf or approach Iran's territorial waters.
Never miss a story.
Join our Telegram channel and get every article link the second it’s published.
Join Telegram Channel