{"id":85934,"date":"2026-04-27T14:57:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/85934\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T14:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:57:24","slug":"iran-says-it-will-open-strait-of-hormuz-if-u-s-ends-blockade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/85934\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran says it will open Strait of Hormuz if U.S. ends blockade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, on Monday.Stringer\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Iran has offered to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. lifting its blockade on the country and an end to the war, while proposing that discussions on the larger question of its nuclear program would come in a later phase, two regional officials said Monday.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, which was passed to the Americans by Pakistan and would leave unresolved the disagreements that led the U.S. and Israel to go to war on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

With a fragile ceasefire in place, the U.S. and Iran are locked in a standoff over the strait, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s traded oil and gas passes in peacetime. The U.S blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while also potentially creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off production because it has nowhere to store the oil.<\/p>\n

The strait\u2019s closure, meanwhile, has put pressure on Trump, as oil and gasoline prices have skyrocketed ahead of crucial midterm elections, and it has pressured his Gulf allies, which use the waterway to export their oil and gas.<\/p>\n

Analysis: Both sides have weaponized the impasse in the Iran war<\/a><\/p>\n

The closure has also had far-reaching effects throughout the world economy, raising the price of fertilizer, food and other basic goods.<\/p>\n

The proposal would push off negotiations on Iran\u2019s nuclear program to a later date. Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

The two officials, who had knowledge of the proposal, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations between Iranian and Pakistani officials this weekend. The Axios news outlet first reported Iran\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

It came as Iran\u2019s foreign minister visited Russia, which has long been a key backer of Tehran. It\u2019s unclear what, if any, assistance Moscow might offer now.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A banner reading ‘Martyr Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’ is displayed along the walkway at Chitgar Lake, an artificial recreational lake and park officially known as the Lake of the Martyrs of the Persian Gulf, in northwestern Tehran, on Sunday.ATTA KENARE\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Strait of Hormuz remains blocked<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s ability to choke off traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has proved one of its biggest strategic advantages in a war that has often boiled down to which side can take more pain.<\/p>\n

Oil prices have risen steadily since the war began and tankers full of crude became stranded in the Gulf, unable to safely transit through the strait and reach global distribution points.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at around US$108 per barrel, nearly 50 per cent higher than when the war began.<\/p>\n

Top Iranian diplomat meets Putin in Russia<\/p>\n

Trump last week indefinitely extended the ceasefire the U.S. and Iran agreed to on April 7 that has largely halted fighting. But a permanent settlement remains elusive in the war that has killed thousands of people.<\/p>\n

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in Saint Petersburg, Russian state news agency Tass said. Putin praised the Iranian people as \u201cbravely and heroically fighting for their sovereignty,\u201d and said Russia would do everything possible to bring peace to the Middle East, Tass reported.<\/p>\n

Araghchi said before the meeting in a video interview posted by Iran\u2019s state-run IRNA news agency that it was \u201ca good opportunity for us to consult with our Russian friends about the developments that have occurred in relation to the war during this period and what is happening now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Monday.Dmitri Lovetsky\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The meeting came as Pakistan has been seeking to revive stalled talks between Iran and the U.S., and negotiations had been expected in Islamabad over the weekend. Instead, Trump called off a trip by his envoys and suggested the talks could take place by phone instead.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Araghchi made two stops in Pakistan and a visit to Oman, which shares the strait with Iran. He also spoke by phone with counterparts in Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Iran wants to persuade Oman to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.<\/p>\n

Oman\u2019s response wasn\u2019t immediately clear.<\/p>\n

The official, who is involved in mediation efforts, also said Iran insisted on ending the U.S. blockade before new talks and that Pakistan-led mediators are trying to bridge significant gaps between the countries.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Smoke rises following an Israeli explosion in southern Lebanon near the border as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, on Monday.JALAA MAREY\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Trump says Iran has offered a \u2018much better\u2019 proposal<\/p>\n

Trump told journalists Saturday that after he called off a trip by his envoys to Pakistan, Iran sent a \u201cmuch better\u201d proposal.<\/p>\n

He did not elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran \u201cwill not have a nuclear weapon.\u201d Iran insists its program is peaceful, but the U.S. wants to remove Tehran\u2019s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build a bomb, should Tehran choose to pursue one.<\/p>\n

Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 people in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group resumed two days after the Iran war started. Another 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been extended by three weeks. Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, on Monday.Stringer\/Reuters Iran has offered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[950,936,951,158,928,952,949,927,942,943,939,929,926,147,948,703,941,934,963,930,931,394,34,937,938,674,953,345,958,959,961,956,960,954,957,932,945,946,81,944,955,935,947,462,940,933,82,962],"class_list":{"0":"post-85934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-iran","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}