Trump Rejects Iran's 7-Day Plan to Reopen Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday morning that he had rejected a seven-day proposal from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying the offer amounted to a sign of Tehran's weakness rather than a genuine settlement, according to ABC News.

The rejection landed on a timeline that has moved fast since February, when Trump announced what he called "major combat operations" against Iran, and slower since June, when delegations sat down to negotiate a war-ending memorandum of understanding that later collapsed. The strait, the narrow waterway through which much of the world's oil moves, has become the fulcrum of that collapse.

What did Trump reject, and why?

Speaking to reporters, Trump said Iran wanted the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately as part of a deal he was not willing to sign. "Well, I'm rejecting their deal. They want to make a deal where we open the Strait immediately because they're losing so badly," Trump said, according to ABC News. "We're winning tremendously. We have total control of the Hormuz Strait."

"We have total control of the Hormuz Strait." — President Donald Trump

He framed the request as evidence of financial strain inside Iran rather than a diplomatic opening. "You know why? Because they're dying. You know why they're dying? Because they have no money coming in. Because they get their money from the Hormuz Strait," he said. Trump did not detail what specifically made the seven-day proposal unacceptable to Washington, and ABC News reported no further elaboration from the White House at the time.

What is Iran offering in the seven-day plan?

The source material reviewed does not spell out the full terms of Iran's seven-day proposal beyond the timeline itself and the stated goal of reopening the strait quickly. Trump's own account — that Tehran wants the waterway open "immediately" — is the clearest description available of what Iran is asking for. The offer arrives against a backdrop Trump described in August, when he said the United States would launch a "crushing economic operation" intended to force concessions from Tehran, according to ABC News.

How did Iran's president respond at the UN?

Days before Trump's comments, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York and then spoke informally with a small group of journalists, including ABC News' Martha Raddatz. Pezeshkian described the diplomatic climate bluntly. "There is a major atmosphere of mistrust," he said, adding, "we are ready for a trust-building relationship."

He also pushed back on the premise behind continued U.S. pressure over Iran's nuclear program. "We struggle to understand why America attacked Iran," Pezeshkian said. "We don't want a nuclear weapon," he added, noting the apparent contradiction in Washington's posture: "President Trump says the U.S. obliterated the program, so why do they need to inspect?" Despite that objection, Pezeshkian said, "We are willing to have inspectors," according to ABC News.

What's happening on the ground amid stalled talks?

The diplomatic freeze has coincided with continued military activity across the region. ABC News reported that Saudi Arabia intercepted six Houthi ballistic missiles and issued safety alerts covering Jeddah and Mecca in the same week Trump announced his rejection of Iran's proposal. In Washington, the Senate again failed to adopt an Iran War Powers Resolution, leaving congressional efforts to constrain further military action against Tehran without a majority. Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an audience that attacking Iran was "one of the easiest decisions," a remark that prompted some diplomats to walk out of his speech, according to the network's reporting.

What comes next for the Strait of Hormuz standoff?

No new negotiating date has been reported in the material reviewed. Trump's position — that the U.S. holds "total control" of the strait and sees no urgency in reopening it — leaves the seven-day framework Iran proposed without an obvious path forward. Pezeshkian's public offer to admit inspectors, paired with his complaint about the still-unexplained rationale for the February strikes, suggests Tehran is trying to reframe the conversation around verification even as the shooting continues. ABC News' David Brennan and Ivan Pereira, who compiled the network's rolling account of the standoff, noted that both sides remain locked into exchanging strikes even as they trade proposals neither has accepted.

For now, the strait stays the fault line: a waterway Trump says the United States controls, and one Iran says it needs open within a week to stop what its president has already conceded is a serious loss of trust between the two governments.