Donald Trump rejects Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump rejected on Saturday September 26 the plan submitted to Washington by Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, at the heart of the conflict between Tehran and Washington, within seven days. “I reject their proposal,” the American president declared to the press as he left the White House, affirming that the Iranian leaders wanted this agreement because “they are losing badly”.

Iran announced on Friday that it had submitted a proposal to the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days - from the validation of the agreement. “The choice now belongs” to Washington, declared its head of diplomacy, Abbas Araghchi, from the UN headquarters in New York.

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian clarified that the proposal had been developed “in coordination” with Supreme Guide Mojtaba Khamenei, the ultimate arbiter of the decisions of the Islamic Republic, and that a team of six members with the “power to make decisions” had been set up in this regard.

A sign of the persistent mistrust between the two countries, Donald Trump had published on his Truth Social network - before the official rejection - a map of the strategic Strait of Hormuz with the mention “Trump Strait”. This sea route, through which a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons previously transited, is at the heart of the conflict, which the United States and Israel triggered at the end of February with strikes on Iran. Since then, the Islamic Republic has claimed control, and Washington in return imposes a blockade on Iranian ports.

Before Donald Trump spoke, the Wall Street Journal, citing American officials, said that the American president had rejected this offer, judging that Tehran would not meet his demands. According to the newspaper, he is considering a resumption of strikes in Iran after the mid-term legislative elections in November.

The United States has not bombed Iranian soil since September 1, when a series of attacks notably left five people dead and dozens injured during a wedding in the southeast of the country, although ships have since been hit in the Strait of Hormuz. As the elections approach, the American president must confront the growing unpopularity of the war in the Middle East, which has caused fuel prices to soar.

“The measures that the United States must take are not new,” and all already appear in the memorandum of understanding signed in June with Washington, declared the head of Iranian diplomacy when presenting his offer. This agreement aimed to put a lasting end to the conflict, to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and then to hold talks on the sensitive aspect of the Iranian nuclear program. But it was shattered around the conditions of passage in the seaway.

The protocol mentioned the immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon where the Israeli army is fighting the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah. In accordance with Tehran's demands, it also provided for the release and payment of Iranian assets frozen in the wake of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 as well as the lifting of American sanctions, which are strangling the country's economy.

In an exclusive interview with AFP on Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Revolutionary Guards, the powerful ideological army of the Islamic Republic, Hossein Mohebi, also insisted on the end of the fighting in Yemen. This country has become the new regional front, since the resumption in July, after years of calm, of the conflict opposing the pro-Iranian Houthis to the Yemeni government and its Saudi godfather. The anti-government movement launched a deadly offensive in September, consolidating its control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another strategic passage for oil exports which connects Europe to Asia via the Suez Canal.