Iran said on Monday it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the United States accepts its conditions, down from the seven days Tehran proposed to Washington through Qatar in September.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei described the shorter timeline as "another indication of Iran's good-faith approach." He said messages were still moving between the two countries through mediators and that "everything depends" on the U.S. accepting Iran's demands. Only then, he said, could the sides discuss later stages.
What Iran is asking for
Tehran's conditions include an end to the war on all fronts, the unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad, the lifting of sanctions on its oil sector and an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added further requirements in an Al Jazeera interview released on Sunday. He said Washington must accept a new transit route through the strait agreed between Iran and Oman, reduce its troop numbers in the region and remove sanctions imposed since August. The U.S. has introduced a new round of measures since August that it has described as the "economic asphyxiation" of Iran.
Since the war began in late February, Iran has said it controls Hormuz and has regularly targeted vessels that try to cross without its authorization. The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports.
Diplomacy alongside threats
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi travelled to Doha on Monday to help draft a preliminary agreement, with Qatar mediating. China said it is sending special envoy Zhai Jun to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia to urge all sides to stop the fighting. Chinese state media reported that Beijing and Muscat jointly called on Washington and Tehran to return to the "Islamabad memorandum of understanding."
Military threats have also sharpened. On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he still had to "take care" of one or two targets, including Pickaxe mountain in central Iran, which Washington suspects houses nuclear infrastructure. Tehran denies that. Baghaei warned that any military attack on Iran would draw a "powerful, immediate and comprehensive response."
Iranian officials continue to set red lines. Deputy parliament speaker Ali Nikzad said Tehran will not begin nuclear talks while under pressure, adding that earlier negotiations yielded only broken promises. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said on Saturday that the U.S. must meet Iran's conditions before talks can start. He said he had received a letter from U.S. Vice-President JD Vance but had not replied.
CENTCOM, the U.S. military command, rejected Iranian claims that its strikes hit only military targets. It said on X that Iran had deliberately struck residential areas, civilian centres and civilian sailors in international waters, and that the attacks killed at least 20 people.
Political timing
The diplomacy comes before U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday, in which economic pressures tied to the war have raised the likelihood of Republican losses in Congress. Results are due Wednesday, the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, when 52 U.S. diplomats were held for more than a year. Government-organized demonstrations against the U.S. are expected across Iran.
Anwar Gargash, an adviser to the UAE president, told the Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain that Abu Dhabi does not want a prolonged crisis with Iran but that trust had been lost.
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