Mediators working to broker US-Iran deal even after Trump rejected latest Tehran proposal

CAIRO — Mediators are still working with Iran and the United States on brokering a deal to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz — even after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly rejected Iran’s latest proposal, three regional officials and a senior U.S. official told The Associated Press.

The indirect talks were expected to resume on Monday and come as the conflict that’s caused global economic damage and badly battered Iran enters its eighth month. Multiple efforts to allow safe shipping on one of the world’s most crucial waterways have failed.

The officials divulged that the behind-the-scenes efforts continue even after Trump spurned an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait in a week if the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian assets and waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.

Iran's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, was scheduled to meet U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres later Monday as part of the U.N. chief’s continuing efforts to help mediators working to end the U.S.-Iran conflict, a U.N. spokesman said.

Stephane Dujarric said “it is symbolic of the business that goes on here" at the U.N. General Assembly, a meeting of world leaders that ends Monday.

Araghchi had remained in New York after last week’s gathering of world leaders at the assembly. He said he was awaiting “definitive” word from mediators of Trump’s rejection. Qatar has been mediating.

Last week, Guterres met with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian who delivered his country’s address to the 193-member world body.

Despite Trump’s often bellicose rhetoric, he remains open to pursuing a non-military resolution to the conflict if one can be achieved, the senior U.S. official told the AP.

The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity about the behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations.

The deal would first reopen the strait and lift the US blockade

Two of the officials speaking to the AP confirmed that mediators are working with both sides on a proposal that would include reopening the strait and lifting the U.S. blockade, and then removing sanctions.

According to the draft text being discussed, the strait would reopen in accordance with a separate deal that Iran has been discussing with Oman, on the other side of the strait, and it would include no tolls — something Tehran has pursued. That deal seeks to temporarily manage shipping traffic on what was seen as an international waterway before the war.

Despite Trump’s public comments, the U.S. has not officially rejected the current proposal, indicating that his remarks may have been a negotiating tactic, according to the officials.

One regional official said the U.S. is seeking Iranian concessions on nuclear issues that include allowing inspectors to enter the country. Under the Memorandum of Understanding the two sides signed in June that collapsed within days, Iran’s nuclear program was meant to be discussed over a 60-day period.

The U.S. will not reach a deal with Tehran until nuclear issues are addressed, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment directly to the media.

Trump is willing to grant sanctions relief and release some frozen funds in exchange for concrete progress on nuclear issues, and Iran has indicated it is flexible on nuclear issues, but the sides remain far apart on timing and which side makes the first moves, according to the official.

The official said the U.S. is skeptical of promises from Iran after it broke the memorandum of understanding by firing on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, so Washington is looking for signs that Iran is serious this time. It was not immediately clear what those signs might be.

U.S. officials feel their position is getting stronger as Tehran feels the impact of sanctions.

Iran's latest proposal seeks faster action

While Iran’s latest proposal echoes the June deal, a key difference is speed.

Araghchi told a closed-door meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last week that Tehran had pitched the deal as benefiting Trump in the midterm elections. Araghchi later told journalists that “the seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan.”

Both the U.S. and Iran have been hurting economically — the U.S. from high oil prices as Iran attacks ships on the strait, and Tehran from the naval blockade and a growing number of U.S. sanctions that bottle up its oil sales. Brent crude, the international standard, is above $108.

For months, the two sides have been trying to outlast the other, while regional countries endure missile and drone attacks as Tehran claims to target U.S. military assets in the region.

Reflecting Iran's impatience, a rare statement on Monday attributed to the theocracy's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei noted the “painful blows” that enemy forces have received near the strait. “Before long, the Arabian Sea, too, will be rid of them,” the statement added.

Tehran's latest proposal again sought to end the fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon. But a new front has emerged in recent weeks as Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are now perched on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. That has further pressured global energy markets.

Iran argues that the Houthis have their own demands, and that their conflict with neighboring Saudi Arabia is separate from the U.S.-Iran war, but Iranian officials said they are willing to help in finding a settlement between the Houthis and the Saudis, one of the officials said.

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Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in Washington and AP Middle East editor Victoria Eastwood contributed to this report.