By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Iran told the United States on Saturday that the path forward rests with Washington, offering a revised proposal that shows limited new flexibility on reopening the Strait of Hormuz while insisting it remains prepared for either diplomacy or continued confrontation.
The overture, delivered through mediators in Pakistan, comes as a three-week-old ceasefire holds uneasily after a brief but devastating war that began Feb. 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets. Iran has kept the strategic waterway largely closed for more than two months by attacking and threatening tankers, while the Trump administration has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports in response.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, speaking to diplomats in Tehran, framed the choice bluntly. “Now the ball is in the United States’ court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach,” he said, according to state broadcaster IRIB. “Iran, with the aim of securing its national interests and security, is prepared for both paths.”
The new Iranian plan, first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday and confirmed by Iranian state media, represents a modest shift from Tehran’s earlier demands. It proposes simultaneous discussions on Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz alongside American guarantees to halt attacks and lift the blockade of Iranian ports. In a further concession, it suggests that negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program could follow, in exchange for relief from US sanctions.
Previously, Iran had insisted that the blockade be lifted and the war formally ended before any broader talks could begin. People familiar with the details described the revised sequencing as an attempt to break the impasse that has kept benchmark Brent crude above $100 a barrel and disrupted global energy supplies more severely than any previous conflict in the region.
Yet the two sides remain far apart on core issues. The United States continues to demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment for up to 20 years and surrender its stockpile of highly enriched uranium — conditions Tehran has repeatedly rejected. Iranian officials have signaled they will not offer significant compromises on the nuclear file until other disputes, including management of the strait, are resolved.
President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, made clear his dissatisfaction. “They want to make a deal, but I’m not satisfied with it,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.” In separate remarks later that day in West Palm Beach, Fla., Trump added that the United States might be “better off” without a deal, warning, “We can’t let this thing go on. Been going on too long.”
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly declined to discuss the specifics of the proposal. “We do not detail private diplomatic conversations,” she said. “President Trump has been clear that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon, and negotiations continue to ensure the short- and long-term national security of the United States.”
Iranian state media said Tehran had submitted the proposal to mediators Thursday night and remained willing to return to the table in Pakistan as early as next week if Washington responded positively. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had traveled to Islamabad twice in recent days, but a planned second round of direct talks collapsed last weekend after Iran declined to confirm its participation, prompting the United States to withhold its senior envoys.
The diplomatic maneuvering occurs against a backdrop of mutual economic pressure. Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passes — by targeting commercial shipping. In retaliation, the US Central Command has enforced a blockade since April 13, turning back dozens of vessels. On Friday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control warned shipowners against paying Iran for safe passage, whether in cash, digital assets, informal swaps or charitable donations routed through Iranian organizations.
A senior Iranian military official warned Saturday that renewed conflict remained possible. Brig. Gen. Mohammad Jafar Asadi, spokesman for Iran’s military headquarters, told state news agencies that “evidence has shown that the United States is not committed to any promises or agreements” and that “surprise measures are planned for the enemy, beyond their imagination.”
Iranian officials also outlined plans to formalize their control over the waterway. Deputy parliament speaker Ali Nikzad said a draft law under consideration would bar Israeli vessels entirely from the strait, require “hostile countries” to compensate for war-related damages before receiving transit permits, and subject all other shipping to Iranian authorization. “We will not give up our rights in the Strait of Hormuz, and vessel traffic will not be the same as it was before the war,” Nikzad said, comparing the measure to the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, asserted that Iran’s dominance over nearly 2,000 kilometers of coastline in the Persian Gulf and the strait would remain a source of “livelihood and power” for Iranians and of “security and prosperity” for the region.
Richard Nephew, a former senior U.S. negotiator with Iran now at Columbia University, said the new proposal appeared designed to align short-term incentives. “I think it aligns everyone’s incentives, because both the U.S. and Iran would get some limited economic relief, and you put off issues that have proven much more difficult and time-consuming,” he said.
On the battlefield, the war’s toll continues to emerge. Iranian and allied forces struck at least 16 U.S. military sites across eight countries in the Middle East during the fighting, according to a CNN report Friday based on satellite imagery and interviews with U.S. and Gulf Arab officials. Many facilities sustained heavy damage to radar systems, communications equipment and aircraft — assets described as among the most expensive and difficult to replace in the region. Pentagon comptroller Jules “Jay” Hurst III told lawmakers Wednesday that the conflict had cost the United States about $25 billion; sources familiar with the assessments later put the figure closer to $40 billion to $50 billion.
On Saturday, Iran’s judiciary announced the execution of two men convicted of spying for Israel. Yaghoub Karimpour and Nasser Bekrzadeh were hanged after the Supreme Court upheld their death sentences, according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website. Karimpour was convicted of “moharebeh” — waging war against God — for allegedly filming and photographing security and military sites and transmitting the information to a Mossad officer during the 12-day war with Israel in June 2025. Bekrzadeh was accused of providing details on religious and provincial figures as well as the Natanz nuclear complex, which was bombed during the conflict. Iran has carried out more than a dozen such executions in recent weeks on charges of espionage and terrorism. Rights groups have long criticized the closed-door nature of the trials.
As the economic pain mounts — for Iran’s sanctions-battered economy and for global consumers facing higher fuel costs — both capitals are signaling their willingness to endure a prolonged stalemate. Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade and has told advisers he is in “no rush.” Iranian leaders, including the new supreme leader, have declared victory in the Persian Gulf and vowed that the strait will remain under Tehran’s supervision. Negotiations continue indirectly through intermediaries in Pakistan, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. No date has been set for the next round of talks, and neither side has ruled them out. But
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