Iran presented to the United States a seven-day plan to stop hostilities and reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz, in a new attempt to break the stalemate in the war that has been going on for about seven months, while President Donald Trump reportedly rejected the proposal and preferred to resume air strikes against the Islamic Republic after the end of the midterm elections.
Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi held talks with Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, after presenting Tehran's conditions for ending the war and reopening the vital shipping lane. Araqchi said from the United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday, "Iran has conveyed to the United States via Qatar a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait may be reopened and transit traffic may return to normal within seven days." He pointed out, "The choice now rests with the United States. Iran does not accept repression, threats, or intimidation, and it will not give up its sovereign rights under pressure."
However, hours after his statement, the Wall Street Journal quoted informed American officials as Trump’s rejection of the proposal. The newspaper's report indicated that the 80-year-old president is skeptical about Tehran's ability to meet his demands and believes that a renewed bombing campaign is likely after the midterm elections scheduled for November.
On the same evening, Donald Trump also posted on his “Truth Social” platform a picture of a map showing the Strait of Hormuz, circled with the phrase “Trump Strait.”
Media reports reported that the new plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East for seven days, including in Lebanon. He said that the conditions are the same as those contained in a memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States earlier this year.
The plan also stipulates, according to the newspaper, a demand for the release of frozen Iranian assets worth about $12 billion, as well as the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US blockade on Iranian ports. On the seventh day of the truce, Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed during an interview with CBS that the ceasefire process will begin "from the day they accept this." Pezeshkian added, "We previously reached an agreement based on the memorandum of understanding that was signed in Pakistan... If the United States agrees to move forward on this path, everything will return to how it was before."
On Tuesday, Mohebi said in an exclusive interview with Agence France-Presse that ending the fighting in Yemen is also among Tehran’s demands.
Washington and Tehran concluded a memorandum of understanding in June in preparation for ending the conflict, reopening the Strait, and launching talks on the Iranian nuclear program. However, the agreement collapsed shortly after, when Iran fired on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz for deviating from the route it had set to cross the waterway.
Iran requires ships to obtain a permit before crossing the strait for reasons of security and sovereignty. Ships that refuse to comply are often targeted, while the United States intermittently bombs Iranian coastal areas in response.
Iran has threatened its neighboring countries if they choose to implement new US sanctions on Iranian airlines, which have led to restrictions on international flights to and from Iran.
The warning came at a time when Iranian airlines canceled a number of international flights, after the United States threatened airports and aviation service providers with imposing secondary sanctions on them if they dealt with Iranian airlines.
Muhammad Mokhber, advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader, wrote on the X platform today, Friday (September 25, 2026): “Siding with the United States in implementing hostile policies will remain engraved in the memory of the Iranian people.”
He added: "Either the airspace will be open to everyone or closed to everyone. If Iran is deprived of its right to fly and access airport services, no country in the region will be able to do that either."
This week, several countries stopped dealing with Iranian airlines and refused to allow them to use their airspace.
Only a few Iranian airlines remain operating flights from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport to destinations including Russia, China and Turkey.
Istanbul, in particular, is an important hub for travelers moving between Iran, Europe, or the United States. Travelers there recently reported a state of uncertainty and chaos in the offices of Iranian airlines.
Mahan Air, the largest and most advanced Iranian private airline, has already been forced to suspend its flights to Türkiye.
Flights to and from Iran were suspended at the four Iraqi airports that were operating these flights, after the airports of Erbil and Sulaymaniyah joined, today, Friday, Baghdad and Najaf, while the UAE suspended the flights of Iranian airlines, in light of American threats to impose sanctions on the parties that deal with them. Two sources told Reuters that Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports suspended Iranian flights as of Friday. According to the sources and official media, the suspension included Baghdad, Najaf, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah airports.
Najaf International Airport had announced, in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency, the cessation of all flights to and from Iran from Friday until further notice, based on the directives of the competent authorities. He called on airlines and operating entities not to take any operational measures regarding included flights during the suspension period.
In the UAE, the General Civil Aviation Authority previously announced the suspension of Iranian airline flights to and from the country, starting from Thursday and until further notice. She said that the decision was based on the US ban imposed on Iranian airlines from using airports in various countries of the world, and that she would inform the relevant authorities and the public of developments.
Washington announced that it will impose sanctions on any companies around the world that deal with Iranian airlines after September 23, with the aim of stopping the Iranian civil aviation fleet worldwide.
For his part, the advisor and assistant to the Iranian guide, Muhammad Mokhber, threatened the countries that suspended the flights of Iranian airlines, saying that “flight in the region will either be available to everyone, or it will not be available to anyone.” An informant wrote today, Friday, through his account on the “X” platform: “If Iran is unable to operate flights and obtain airport service, then no country in the region will be able to do so either.”
In an interview on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent threatened to exclude countries from the US dollar system if they supplied Iranian airlines with fuel, provided them with landing services at their airports, or sold tickets on their behalf. This came after the imposition of comprehensive US sanctions on the Iranian aviation sector two weeks ago, as part of Washington’s pressure on Tehran to end the war launched by the United States and Israel in late February.
The repercussions of these pressures extended to crossing airspace. Iranian media reported, on Thursday, that a passenger plane heading from Tehran to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, was forced to return midway through its journey after Turkmenistan refused to grant it transit permission.
According to the German News Agency, it is no longer possible to organize flights from Tehran to the Emirates, Baghdad and Muscat due to the recent punitive measures. On the other hand, flights between Istanbul and Tehran continued, despite travelers talking about uncertainty and chaos at check-in desks, and some airlines continued to operate flights to China, Iran's most important trading partner.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiaqun rejected the US measures, describing them as illegal unilateral sanctions, based neither on international law nor a Security Council mandate.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan intend to hold an urgent high-level meeting within the framework of a joint defense agreement to discuss ways to support the Kingdom in light of the attacks launched by the Houthis on it, while Tehran sought to distance itself from the rapid advance of its Houthi allies.
The Houthis launched attacks on the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and repeatedly fired into the kingdom's territory, disrupting the flow of oil from the world's largest energy exporter, as part of the expanding war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
The Houthis said they fired dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi targets yesterday, Thursday, while authorities in Saudi Arabia reported that they intercepted six ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis.
Saudi Arabia had previously issued warnings to areas including Mecca and Jeddah, as well as Yanbu, the main Saudi oil port on the Red Sea.
The highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia called on the forces to prepare to exert themselves and confront the Houthi group, according to a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency. The rare statement issued by the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom, Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan, was full of Quranic verses and hadiths urging unity and jihad.
Amid the exchange of attacks, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey held a meeting “within the framework of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement” and condemned the attacks that targeted Mecca and other civilian sites, and affirmed, according to the statement, Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself. The statement added, "The meeting touched on the ongoing arrangements to hold an urgent meeting of the chiefs of staff in the three countries, with the aim of discussing ways to support the Kingdom in accordance with the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, and what it stipulates that any attack on any party is considered an attack on all parties."
The announcement of the meeting came shortly after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sought, in an interview with an American television channel yesterday, Thursday, to confirm that Iran has nothing to do with what the Houthis are doing.
“The Houthis are responsible for their actions,” Pezeshkian told the “Special Report with Bret Baier” program on Fox News, a day after his speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Pezeshkian's interview and speech came amid a cessation of fighting between the United States and Iran and a short diplomatic attempt in New York, where Qatar played the role of mediator between the two parties.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters yesterday, Thursday, that Tehran had conveyed a proposal to the United States through mediators, according to which the Strait of Hormuz could be opened if conditions set by Tehran were met. The Iranian proposal includes stopping hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, within seven days, while the United States will lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian funds, and lift sanctions imposed on oil.
“The Strait of Hormuz will be reopened on the last day,” Araqchi said, adding that talks with the United States on other issues, including the Iranian nuclear issue, will begin after that. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran is studying Washington's response to its proposals to stop the war.
The war, which US President Donald Trump started in cooperation with Israel in February, killed thousands and caused disruption to global energy supplies, leading to higher oil prices.
While direct fighting between the United States and Iran has largely declined, Iran's allies in the region have not, as tensions continue between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon and the Houthis advance in Yemen.
Iran and its allies are exerting great pressure on Saudi oil exports, as the Houthis obstruct maritime traffic at the entrance to the Red Sea, while Iran has severely restricted the movement of oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of global oil exports passed before the war. An attack by Iranian-backed Iraqi armed groups temporarily disrupted the Saudi East-West pipeline.
There are debates among security experts about the extent of Iran's direct influence on the Houthis, a Shiite group that has evolved from a local insurgency into a powerful armed group that controls most of northern Yemen.
Yemeni governmental, Iranian and regional sources reported that the Houthi advance along the Yemeni coast on the Red Sea was carried out under the direct guidance of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
With the war against Iran largely deadlocked after months-long battles, Washington announced a change in tactics to expand the scope of its financial sanctions by targeting companies affiliated with third countries that do business with Iranian companies, a practice known as “secondary sanctions.”
Iranian airlines were banned yesterday, Thursday, from entering neighboring countries, including the UAE and Oman, after new US sanctions, in the first major impact of a change in US policy targeting companies in third countries that deal with Iran. If the flight ban continues, it may deepen Iran's isolation and exacerbate the economic crisis in the country, which is already facing a US blockade of its sea ports.
Oil prices fell today, Thursday (September 24, 2026), after rising by four percent during the previous session, at a time when Iran announced that it was still open to diplomacy to end the war with the United States. Brent crude futures fell 94 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $102.13 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 59 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $91.56.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that the positions of Iran and the United States are still far apart on how to end the war, but diplomatic efforts must continue, after the Iranian president stated before the United Nations General Assembly that Tehran will never yield to American pressure.
The official added that Tehran is studying Washington's response to its proposals to end the war. The proposals focus on lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The official said that reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the naval blockade imposed by Washington on Iran were discussed during indirect talks on Tuesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that the Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened unless Iran's conditions are met. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that reaching an agreement with Iran will require hard work over a period of time, adding that Trump also has military options.
