Iran gets US feedback on Hormuz plan as talks snag on who moves first

Updated 10:01 WAT, 1 Oct 2026: Iran’s cabinet has reviewed the US response without disclosing it, and US officials say Marco Rubio ordered Abbas Araghchi’s delegation out of New York on Monday.

Updated 08:57 WAT, 30 Sep 2026: Iran has received the US feedback through Qatar, and oil prices eased on Tuesday. This story has been updated.

Iran US talks moved a step on Tuesday night. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi received Washington’s feedback on Iran’s seven-day plan from Qatari mediators in Doha, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters, in a report carried by Arab News. The main disagreement is over sequencing, the official said.

On Wednesday, Araghchi presented the US response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a cabinet meeting, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said, according to CBS News and the Associated Press. Officials did not say what it contained. “We will make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition and will firmly stand up for the rights of the Iranian people,” Pezeshkian said, the AP reported.

The exchange followed indirect talks in New York on Monday, where Araghchi met the Qatari mediators, Al Jazeera reported.

Those talks ended in a rebuke. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered Araghchi’s delegation to leave the United States on Monday evening after the talks stalled, US officials told Axios and the Associated Press. “Secretary Rubio kicked out the Iranian delegation who had overstayed their welcome,” one official told Axios. Iran’s UN mission said the delegation had left on Monday evening on a schedule given to the State Department on 17 September, the AP reported.

What happens next could decide whether the Strait of Hormuz, largely choked off since the war began in late February, starts to reopen. For Nigeria, it is also a story about oil money and pump prices.

Araghchi said the Qataris brought ideas on how Iran’s conditions could be met and would take them to the American side. Those conditions include lifting sanctions on Iranian oil, unfreezing assets and ending the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, according to Reuters.

Separately, Axios and CNN, citing US officials, reported that President Donald Trump would consider easing sanctions and releasing frozen funds if Iran took concrete steps on its nuclear programme. One US official described the talks as constructive but said there would be no deal unless nuclear issues were addressed.

Trump hit back late on Monday night, Nigerian time. “This is untrue. I offered them NOTHING!” he wrote on Truth Social, calling the Axios story a hoax.

Tehran also denied any shift. “I categorically state that there has been no change in Iran’s positions,” Araghchi said, according to Iran’s state broadcaster Press TV. His spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, dismissed reports on the details of the talks as speculation.

Why are the Iran US talks stuck?

The two sides want different things first. Iran wants the blockade and the strait settled, while Washington wants nuclear concessions, Axios reported. Qatar and Pakistan are carrying messages between them.

Trump rejected Iran’s seven-day plan on Saturday. Unveiled at the UN General Assembly, it offered to reopen the strait and resume nuclear negotiations in return for sanctions relief and an end to the blockade.

Before the war, about a fifth of the world’s oil passed through Hormuz, Al Jazeera noted. Only 132 vessels crossed between 21 and 27 September, roughly what used to pass in a single day.

The waterway remains dangerous. Three vessels, including a crude oil tanker, were struck by unknown projectiles in the strait on Tuesday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said, according to AFP and CBS News.

What does this mean for oil prices?

Markets first read the stalemate as bad news. Brent crude jumped more than 3 per cent to almost $108 a barrel in Asian trade on Monday, Al Jazeera reported, before settling at $105.28. On Tuesday it fell $1.96 to $103.32 by the afternoon, Reuters reported, as Gulf exports recovered. It rose about 1 per cent on Wednesday, to around $103.70, leaving Brent on course for a gain of about 14 per cent in September, Reuters reported.

Prices would be higher without the Gulf’s workarounds. Saudi Arabia has restarted its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, and Middle East crude exports hit 12.8 million barrels a day in September, the most since February, Investing.com reported. On Wednesday, JPMorgan said the 10-day average of Middle East crude exports had rebounded to 98 per cent of pre-war levels, Bloomberg reported.

What it means for Nigeria

Nigeria’s 2026 budget assumes oil at $64.85 a barrel, according to BusinessDay and Nairametrics. Prices this far above that benchmark are a potential windfall for government revenue, provided output holds up.

The same prices hurt motorists. Petrol prices are deregulated, so they track crude. The Dangote refinery raised its gantry price from ₦1,265 to ₦1,350 a litre on 12 September, citing Brent above $100, Vanguard reported.

A deal that reopens Hormuz would likely pull crude lower and ease that pressure at the pump. A breakdown would push the other way.

What happens next

The next move is still Tehran’s. Iran’s cabinet has now seen the US response, but officials have not disclosed what it says or whether Tehran sees it as a rejection, the AP reported. Qatar says it is still carrying messages. “We are exchanging messages between the parties,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said, according to Reuters.

Washington is sounding impatient. Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that the US would either “blow them up” or make a deal, adding: “It’s going to end very soon,” according to CBS News and Fox News.

If the talks break down, Araghchi has already warned that Iran is prepared for the war to resume, and oil traders will price that in within minutes.

Until the sequencing is settled, part of the price of a litre of petrol in Lagos is being negotiated between Doha, Tehran and Washington.