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Iran's offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within a week remains on the table, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, adding the waterway could reopen on the sixth day if Washington meets Tehran’s conditions, as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said another tanker struck a mine in the strait.
"If they comply with our conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen on the sixth day, and negotiations will begin on the seventh day," Araghchi told Iranian media in Baghdad, where he attended an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting.
The standoff over Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of global oil and LNG trade before the war, is at the heart of stalled U.S.-Iran talks, with Washington insisting on addressing Iran's nuclear program first.
"Our situation is clear and based on the seven-days proposal presented to the U.S. They shared comments which we are reviewing, but our proposal is still on the table and if there is any honesty on the US part, which there isn’t, the way to reopening the Strait of Hormuz is obvious," Araghchi said.
"The conditions we stated are not strange; they are conditions the U.S. had previously committed to," he said, adding, "Our conditions are fair, and if the United States is willing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, it can meet them within a few days."
Iran's conditions include lifting the U.S. blockade of its ports, lifting sanctions on its oil exports and ending hostilities on all regional fronts. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said earlier this month that Iran must make a "meaningful" reduction in its uranium enrichment capacity.
The top Iranian diplomat said about 20 foreign ministers attended the Baghdad meeting, a good turnout by the organization’s standards, but that the OIC’s importance had declined in recent years.
"It is expected that this organization will play a more constructive role in resolving disputes between Islamic countries," he told Tasnim, adding he raised the issue with Iraq’s prime minister, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and the new OIC secretary-general.
An oil tanker caught fire after hitting a naval mine in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz late Sunday, the IRGC Navy said, according to Fars.
The blast struck the engine room as the vessel tried to leave the strait using what Iran considers an unauthorized southern route with its navigation systems switched off, the statement said.
The IRGC warned that ships operating with navigation and identification systems switched off would face a "firm response."
It did not identify the tanker or report casualties.
It was the third such claim in three days, after the IRGC said a supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude struck a mine Saturday and another tanker hit a mine Friday.
The U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington later imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
The U.S. and Iran subsequently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in June concerning freedom of navigation in the strait, but implementation stalled over disagreements related to security in the strategic waterway.
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