Seyit Kurt
26 September 2026•Update: 26 September 2026
US President Donald Trump said Saturday that he rejected Iran’s latest proposal conveyed to Washington during indirect negotiations in New York this week, US news outlet Axios reported.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said: “They have made a proposal and I rejected it.”
Despite the rejection, a US official said that “positive and constructive” discussions between Washington and Tehran are continuing through regional mediators, including on nuclear issues, according to the report.
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held a new round of indirect talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, with Qatari officials relaying messages between the two sides, according to sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
During the talks, Araghchi presented Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming nuclear negotiations.
Tehran proposed reopening the strategic waterway and resuming nuclear talks within a week in exchange for Washington lifting its naval blockade, removing sanctions on Iranian oil sales, and reinstating a ceasefire across the region.
However, US negotiators told their Iranian counterparts that Tehran does not control the strait and so cannot make demands concerning it, a source told Axios.
The negotiations came as Türkiye, Qatar, and other regional mediators seek to revive diplomacy between Washington and Tehran, although significant differences remain over the central issues.