Iran says it could reopen Strait of Hormuz within two days

Tehran — Iran said on Monday it was ready to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the United States accepts its conditions, an offer Tehran presented as proof of good faith after months of blockade that have sent energy prices soaring. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters the plan, first proposed in September as a seven-day timetable, had been shortened, according to The Hindu.

The strait, the narrow gateway to the energy-rich Gulf, normally carries one-fifth of global oil consumption. Tehran has blockaded it since the war began on February 28 with a joint US-Israeli attack. Baqaei said messages were being exchanged with Washington through mediators and that "everything depends" on the US side accepting Iran's demands.

Those demands, as reported by Al Jazeera, include the US lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports, repealing sanctions, guaranteeing an end to strikes and securing a complete regional ceasefire, especially in Lebanon. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has also insisted Washington accept a new transit route agreed with Oman and reduce troop numbers in the region. "Otherwise, the current situation will continue, and Iran will not bow down," he told state media.

In Washington, President Donald Trump struck an upbeat note, saying a deal looked like it was "coming together very nicely" and claiming oil prices had fallen almost $10 a barrel on hopes the war would end. Vice President JD Vance said there had been "a number of good conversations with the Iranians" and that no deadline had been set, but that any agreement required "a firm commitment and a verifiable commitment" that Iran would not rebuild its nuclear programme, which Vance said the US had destroyed. That claim could not be independently verified.

Yet Trump has kept the threat of force alive. At a rally in Iowa ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections, where diesel prices and inflation are central issues, he warned Iran to expect "the hammer". Baqaei answered that any attack on Iran would meet what he called a powerful, immediate and comprehensive response.

Officials from Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have held talks with Iran in recent days, Euronews reported, while Oman's ruler discussed the war with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a senior Iranian official that all parties should focus on a political solution rather than again resorting to armed conflict.

For shipping crews idled in the Gulf and households paying dearer fuel from Iowa to Islamabad, the wait now turns on whether Washington accepts terms Tehran says it has not changed — or whether, as Gulf states have long feared, the talks run out of road.