Trump rejects Iran’s seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Updated 10:03 WAT, 30 Sep 2026: Iran has received a US response to its seven-day plan through Qatari mediators, and President Masoud Pezeshkian’s cabinet discussed it on Wednesday.

Hopes of an early end to the nearly seven-month stand-off over the Strait of Hormuz dimmed at the weekend after US President Donald Trump rejected a peace roadmap put forward by Iran.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, presented the seven-day plan at the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday. Under it, the United States would release frozen Iranian funds, lift sanctions on Iranian oil and end its naval blockade of Iranian ports. By the seventh day, Iran would reopen the strait and final negotiations would begin.

Trump turned the offer down on Saturday, saying Tehran wanted a quick deal because it was “losing so badly”. He has nonetheless said he expects negotiations to resume, CBS News reported. Araghchi said Iran was still waiting for a definitive response through mediators, and that the country was prepared for either renewed fighting or diplomacy.

On Sunday, Trump told Axios he expected more talks with Iran this week, but said what Tehran was offering was “not the deal that I want to make”. The same day, Iran said its Revolutionary Guards navy had seized a US underwater drone. The US military denied it, saying it remained in control of all its drone assets.

Iran has since received that response. Araghchi was handed Washington’s feedback on the plan by Qatari mediators in Doha on Tuesday, Reuters reported. On Wednesday, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state news agency IRNA that Araghchi had presented “the American side’s proposal” to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a cabinet meeting, AFP reported. An official quoted by Reuters said the two sides disagree mainly over the order of the steps, rather than what the plan contains.

How we got here

The crisis began on 28 February 2026, when the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran. Tehran closed the strait shortly afterwards, and attacks on vessels sharply curtailed shipping through it. A memorandum of understanding signed in June was meant to end the war and reopen the waterway, but it broke down, and the US has since maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Why it matters in Nigeria

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important routes for oil and gas, so every twist in the talks moves energy prices. Brent crude, the global benchmark against which Nigerian oil is priced, settled at $104.32 a barrel on Friday after touching $108 on Thursday.

For Nigeria, high oil prices cut both ways. They can boost government oil revenue and foreign-exchange earnings, but they also feed through to what households and businesses pay for petrol, diesel and aviation fuel. That is why a diplomatic breakthrough, or a breakdown, in the Gulf can show up in prices at filling stations in Lagos, Kano or Port Harcourt.

What next: Tehran is now weighing Washington’s response. Watch for Iran’s formal reply through the Qatari mediators, and for any movement in oil prices, which have been swinging on each diplomatic signal. For the latest, read our report: Iran gets US feedback on Hormuz plan as talks snag on who moves first.