Iran can reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.
US president Donald Trump and Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian are both due to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, the first time they will be at the same event since Trump launched “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran in February.
The Iranian official said Iran’s delegation had full authority to revive talks, although no direct meetings between the two presidents were planned.
No face-to-face meetings between Iran and the United States are known to have taken place since July, when an agreement on an interim deal to end the war collapsed just weeks after it was signed by Trump and Pezeshkian.
“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,” a senior Iranian official said.
Pezeshkian, who left Tehran for New York on Tuesday morning, is not scheduled to meet Trump at the UN headquarters in New York, the official said.
The Iranian official said details on an agreement to end hostilities with Washington can be discussed in New York via mediators, explaining that Tehran’s proposal was delivered to the US via mediators on September 16th.
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“The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy,” the official said, adding that Tehran would welcome a revival of diplomacy if Washington takes tangible steps.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio told NBC’s Today show the US was open to speaking with the Iranians at the General Assembly, “especially if it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately achieving the goal of what this is all about”.
Trump is due to meet on Tuesday with the leaders of the six Gulf Arab states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Gulf countries are keen to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz but wary of giving their long-standing rival Iran too much power.
All apart from Oman host huge US military bases that have come under repeated Iranian attack throughout the war, which has strained their decades-old security partnerships with Washington.
The biggest of them, Saudi Arabia, has been drawn deeper into the war this month, with Houthi fighters aligned to Iran advancing in Yemen, routing forces of a Saudi-backed government there and threatening Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea.
There was some relief on oil markets on Tuesday, after sources said that Saudi Arabia had restarted operations at its East-West Pipeline and could resume exports within hours, albeit at reduced volume, from the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
The pipeline, Saudi Arabia’s main alternative route for exports to bypass wartime disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, was shut down after attacks on September 10th that Riyadh blamed on Iranian allies in Iraq.
The Houthis have pushed back Saudi-supported government forces with the aim of controlling the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern mouth of the Red Sea, and have attacked Saudi Arabia directly with missiles and drones.
The US, which bombed the Houthis for two months last year, has so far rebuffed repeated pleas from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to rejoin the fight against the group. The New York Times reported that Trump called off US strikes against the Houthis on Sunday at the last minute, after troops had already begun loading bombs on to planes.– Reuters