Iran Sets Seven-Day Deal to Reopen Hormuz Strait for Trump

Iran has given the Trump administration five days to accept a plan that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart nuclear talks, but only if Washington agrees to lift sanctions, let Iran sell oil again, and get Israel to stop hitting Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to The Guardian.

The offer came out of a three-hour meeting this week between Iranian diplomats and US envoy Steve Witkoff, the Guardian reported. Iranian officials in New York told the paper they thought the meeting went well but doubted the US would actually follow through.

What is Iran's seven-day plan for the Strait of Hormuz?

The plan sets a seven-day clock. If the US agrees, the strait — a shipping lane that carries a large share of the world's oil — would reopen, easing pressure on global energy markets, according to the Guardian's reporting. Iran has already shown the proposal to China for its backing and lined up support from Oman, which sits on the southern side of the strait.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told the Guardian the plan is not new territory. "The conditions we have asked the US to meet is nothing new, nothing more than what was already in the Islamabad agreement, which was signed by the US president," Araghchi said, referring to the memorandum of understanding Trump signed with Iran in June. What has changed, he said, is the timeline — Iran wants the same terms delivered fast.

What would Trump have to give up?

To hit the five-day window, Trump would need to lift freezes on Iranian assets and allow Iran to resume oil exports, the Guardian reported. Those two steps alone would mark a reversal of sanctions pressure the administration has kept in place.

The article describes the asset and export concessions as difficult but not the hardest part of the deal. That distinction goes to the Lebanon question.

Why does Lebanon matter to the deal?

The toughest ask, according to the Guardian, is that Trump would need to order Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel's strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran is framing this as part of a broader "ceasefire on all fronts," not just a nuclear or shipping arrangement.

That puts Trump in the position of pressuring a close ally's military campaign in order to unlock a deal with Iran — a trade Iranian diplomats told the Guardian they aren't confident Washington will make.

"The conditions we have asked the US to meet is nothing new, nothing more than what was already in the Islamabad agreement, which was signed by the US president." — Abbas Araghchi, Iran's foreign minister

Will Israel go along with a ceasefire?

The Guardian's report does not include a response from Netanyahu's government to the Lebanon condition, and no Israeli official is quoted in the source material. That leaves open whether Israel would accept a halt to its Hezbollah operations as part of a deal negotiated primarily between Washington and Tehran.

What happens if the US says no?

The Guardian frames the plan as a chance for Trump to "rapidly extricate" himself from a political crisis ahead of the 2026 midterms, but the paper is clear that Iranian officials are skeptical Trump will deliver on the terms. If the US does not respond within the window Iran has set, the strait would presumably stay under the current pressure, and the oil-export and asset-freeze questions would remain unresolved. The Guardian's reporting does not specify a fallback plan from Iran if the deadline passes without a US answer.

What to watch

• Whether the Trump administration responds to the Iranian proposal within the five days remaining before the seven-day window closes.
• Whether Washington moves to lift Iranian asset freezes or ease oil-export restrictions.
• Whether Israel scales back strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
• Whether China's and Oman's backing of the plan, as described by Iranian diplomats, translates into public pressure on Washington.
• Whether Iranian and US officials hold further meetings following this week's session with envoy Steve Witkoff.

The full Guardian analysis, including additional comments from Iranian diplomats in New York, is available here.