Iran Receives Official US Response to Its Offer to End the War as Three Ships Are Hit in Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has received an official U.S. response to its latest proposal to end the seven-month war between the two countries, Iranian officials indicated Wednesday, though they did not say what the reply contained or whether Washington had rejected the offer.

The development came days after President Donald Trump publicly dismissed Tehran's plan, and as a British maritime security agency reported that three ships had been struck by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway at the center of the conflict.

Response presented to Iran's Cabinet

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the U.S. response to President Masoud Pezeshkian during a Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state-run IRNA news agency.

Pezeshkian struck a cautiously optimistic tone after the meeting.

"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 agreement must now be based on a win-win strategy."

The Cabinet session followed Araghchi's return from New York, where he attended the U.N. General Assembly last week. While there, Iranian officials held indirect talks with U.S. counterparts and met with Qatari and Pakistani mediators on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders.

An official briefed on the talks, who is not Iranian and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Qatari officials briefed Araghchi on the U.S. response on Tuesday during a stop in Doha on his way home. According to the official, the two sides largely agree on the steps needed to end the war but still disagree on the order in which they should be taken.

Araghchi also briefed the Cabinet on Iran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Mohajerani said had been conveyed through mediators.

Trump rejected Iran's proposal

Last week, Araghchi said he had floated a proposal to reopen the strait within a week if the United States agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian assets and waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.

Trump swiftly rejected the plan, saying Iran wanted a deal because it was "losing so badly" but that its offer "would not be acceptable."

Trump has also denied reports that he was willing to offer Iran sanctions relief or release frozen funds in exchange for concessions on its nuclear program.

Despite the public rebuff, mediators have continued working with both sides to broker an agreement to end the fighting and reopen the strait, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

On Tuesday, Trump said Iran is "failing very badly, very badly" and predicted the war would be "over with very, very soon." At the start of the conflict, he had predicted it would last only weeks. More recently, he said he did not expect it to end until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the United States.

Ships struck in Hormuz

Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz remained high. Britain's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, or UKMTO, reported Wednesday that a crude oil tanker and two other vessels had each "been struck by an unknown projectile" in the strait the previous day.

The agency initially described one of the vessels as a liquefied natural gas tanker before later calling it a tanker. It did not immediately provide details on casualties or damage.

Before the war, about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passed through the narrow waterway off Iran's southern coast. Since the conflict began in late February, Tehran has blocked the passage of commercial ships and fired on vessels it accuses of making unauthorized crossings.

Washington has responded with a counter-blockade of Iranian ports aimed at preventing Tehran from exporting oil.

Shipping through the strait has picked up in recent weeks, with shippers charging high fees to brave the risk of attack. But flows of crude oil, refined fuels and natural gas remain significantly disrupted. Iran wants any eventual deal to grant it control over the strait.

New US sanctions

As diplomacy continues, the Trump administration has kept up economic pressure on Tehran. The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions Tuesday targeting people and companies it accuses of financing or enabling Iran's military supply chain.

The measures, part of what the administration calls "Operation Economic Outcast," target 10 individuals and entities based in Iran, Hong Kong and Pakistan over accusations of procuring weapons and weapons components for Iran's defense ministry.

Iran's economy in freefall

Iran's economy, already under severe strain before the war, has deteriorated sharply since the fighting began.

The Iranian rial fell to a record low Tuesday, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials for one U.S. dollar. The drop came just 27 days after the currency hit its previous record low of 2.2 million rials to the dollar on Sept. 2.

The war has also weighed on the U.S. political landscape. Polls show the conflict was unpopular from the start, and disruptions to global energy supplies and the resulting spike in fuel prices have hurt Republicans as they try to keep control of both chambers of Congress in elections five weeks away.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps weighed in on the U.S. campaign Tuesday, publishing a 26-page letter urging American voters to reject Trump's allies.

"Remove from power the evil, deceitful, and violent politicians who are responsible for America's current state," the letter said.

Executions over January protests

Also on Wednesday, Iran executed two men over their roles in violence during nationwide anti-government protests in January, IRNA reported.

Citing the judiciary, the agency said the men took part in unrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad that left four members of the security forces dead. Iran's Supreme Court upheld their death sentences before they were carried out Wednesday morning.

The protests began Dec. 28 amid anger over Iran's collapsing currency and worsening economy and quickly spread nationwide, with demonstrators increasingly calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. Authorities responded with a deadly crackdown. Rights groups say thousands were killed and tens of thousands arrested, while Iranian authorities have reported a significantly lower death toll.

It remains unclear whether the U.S. response marks a step toward an agreement or a further hardening of positions. With mediators still shuttling between the two sides and disagreements persisting over the sequence of steps, any deal to end the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz appears uncertain in the near term.