Iran said on Monday it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if Washington lifted its naval blockade and met other conditions, as US President Donald Trump prepared to meet Qatar’s prime minister. Oil prices fell despite new reports of damage to ships near the waterway.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran wanted an end to hostilities, the release of frozen Iranian assets and relief from sanctions imposed in recent months. Iran gave Washington a seven-day plan through mediators in September. Its shorter timetable would see shipping restrictions eased before talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, which Washington wants addressed from the outset.
Rubio calls it ridiculous
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of Tehran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous” on Sunday and said a breakthrough was unlikely soon. Baghaei defended the offer at his weekly briefing in Tehran, calling the two-day plan “a demonstration of the utmost goodwill” and saying the next move lay with Washington.
Trump told CNN on Sunday that further US strikes were “highly unlikely” if negotiations made progress. “It depends on whether or not they sign a very strong agreement,” he said. He also said US forces had identified 38 bridges they could destroy within an hour if fighting resumed.
Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, was due to meet Trump and Vice President JD Vance in Washington after visiting Tehran last week. Qatar has been passing proposals between the two sides. Its foreign ministry said Sheikh Mohammed discussed maritime navigation and efforts to reach a broader agreement with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday.
Oil slides despite fresh reports of ship damage
At sea, the US military said it had disabled a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman as it tried to breach the blockade. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said two tankers caught fire after hitting mines in the strait. Reuters could not verify those accounts. Britain’s maritime trade monitor separately reported an incident involving a bulk carrier and military forces off the United Arab Emirates.
Brent crude fell 3.6% to $94.83 a barrel by 1219 GMT on Monday, while US West Texas Intermediate dropped 2.9% to $88.17. “Oil continues to trade lower on hopes of a US-Iran peace deal rather than concrete signs of progress,” Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen told Reuters.
Iraq is seeking to keep its exports moving while the talks drag on. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Baghdad had reached understandings with Washington to ship oil through a lane near Oman. He put Iraq’s losses from the war and export disruptions at $60 billion. Iraqi energy officials said exports rose to about 3.5 million barrels a day in October, from 2.65 million in September.
Before the war, the strait carried an average of 20.9 million barrels of oil a day in the first half of 2025, equivalent to about a fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption, according to the US Energy Information Administration. China, India, Japan and South Korea together received 74% of the crude oil and condensate that passed through it during that period.