Iran offered to loosen its restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz if the United States ended both the war and its blockade of Iranian ports, according to two regional officials familiar with the proposal. The initiative was relayed to Washington through Pakistan as negotiators sought a way out of a fragile military and maritime standoff.
The proposal separated the immediate crisis at sea from the broader dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Under the terms described by the officials, talks on the nuclear issue would come later. That sequencing appeared to conflict with the Trump administration's insistence that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remain central to any lasting settlement.
The strait is the narrow entrance to the Persian Gulf and normally carries about one-fifth of traded oil and natural gas. Iran had restricted movement through the waterway while the United States enforced a blockade of Iranian ports. Those parallel actions gave the negotiations consequences far beyond the two countries, affecting commercial shipping and governments concerned about energy supplies.
President Donald Trump appeared unlikely to endorse the Iranian offer as presented. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the reported conditions did not amount to a genuinely open international waterway if ships still had to coordinate with Iran, obtain permission or make payments. He also argued that postponing the nuclear question would leave the central US concern unresolved.
The diplomatic gap was therefore not simply over whether traffic should resume. It involved who would control passage, what conditions vessels would face, when the blockade would end and whether a maritime arrangement could be separated from nuclear restrictions. Iran's approach sought an end to immediate pressure before the larger nuclear negotiation; Washington's position linked those issues more tightly.
Other governments emphasized the wider stakes. A British minister said the United Kingdom did not support the US blockade but also opposed Iran restricting an international waterway, calling for safe and unobstructed passage without tolls or security threats. Germany had offered minesweepers to assist after the fighting ended.
The offer nonetheless established a concrete basis for further diplomacy: an end to Iran's hold over the strait in exchange for an end to the blockade and war. Whether that could become an agreement depended on resolving the nuclear sequencing and navigation terms that remained sharply disputed. The existing ceasefire had not ended the confrontation at sea: the United States kept the port blockade, while Iran maintained coercive restrictions on shipping. That made any maritime compromise dependent on more than a declaration of reopening. Governments and carriers also needed clarity on enforcement, safety and whether Iranian permission would still be required for ordinary commercial transit.
