US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said on Sunday that Washington rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz because Tehran sought sanctions relief and access to “billions in frozen assets” before talks on its nuclear programme. “They were asking for everything up front, with a promise that they would then talk,” Waltz said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked what US President Donald Trump objected to. In a separate interview with NBC, Waltz called Iran’s proposal “a pretty cynical attempt to put something on the table that they knew was unacceptable.” He said the US would ultimately need to reach “some type of agreement” with Iran, while stressing that Trump would keep all “options on the table”. Waltz said Iran’s seven-day proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz included a “request to have access to billions in frozen funds and a request for the lifting of sanctions”. “These aren’t just the United States’s sanctions,” Waltz said. “These are global sanctions. It’s worth reminding people that this is the world’s position.” Waltz also pointed to Iran’s nuclear programme, saying that “there has been not one, not two, but seven UN Security Council resolutions over the last 20 years saying Iran cannot and should not have a nuclear weapons programme”. He added that the International Atomic Energy Agency had referred Iran to the Security Council “for violations”, including Tehran’s refusal to allow inspectors into the country and provide “proper oversight of their enrichment”. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi later disputed Waltz’s account of the proposal. “I am surprised that the ambassador is talking about a seven-day plan, as he has not read it,” Araghchi said. “Maybe he has not been given a copy.” However, Araghchi has also said Iran remained open to diplomacy while warning that Tehran was prepared for renewed hostilities. “We are fully prepared for the war to be resumed. We stand firm in the face of any new aggression, even if it comes to a doomsday war. We don’t care about U.S. midterm elections. We care about our national interests. At the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose,” he said. US President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s seven-day ceasefire proposal and told aides he expects US bombing of Iran to resume after the November midterm elections, according to US officials cited by The Washington Post. Under Tehran’s proposal, the US would lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, ease sanctions on Iranian oil exports and observe a ceasefire that would include Lebanon. In return, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume negotiations with Washington on its nuclear programme. Trump has said Tehran is seeking a deal after the midterm elections that would dismantle its nuclear programme. However, according to The Washington Post, he remains privately skeptical that Iran would meet his demands and has told aides that renewed bombing is likely. However, Trump expressed confidence that the conflict with Iran would be won “very soon”, while acknowledging that fresh US military strikes before the November midterm elections were “possible”. Speaking to Fox News on the sidelines of the PGA Tour Presidents Cup on Sunday (local time), Trump said an end to the confrontation would lead to a sharp fall in global oil prices. He reiterated that preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remained the primary US objective. “I think what's going to happen is we're going to win this war very soon, and as soon as we win it, the oil will go down, way down to what it was before the war,” Trump told Fox News. With Iran maintaining its position despite Trump’s threat of further military action and rejection of its peace proposal, tensions in West Asia could intensify after the US midterm elections.
