Iran has suggested it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a linchpin for global oil shipments, in exchange for the United States dropping its naval blockade of Persian Gulf ports and ending their two-month conflict, White House sources indicated on Monday.
President Donald Trump’s top national security advisers discussed the idea at a morning meeting, press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed during an afternoon briefing. The proposal, which Axios and The Associated Press reported earlier, would postpone talks on Iran’s nuclear programme to a later stage and challenges Trump’s insistence on a fully binding deal before any concessions.
With the strait largely sealed, energy markets have reeled. Brent crude has climbed above $125 per barrel this week, driving petrol prices past £1.80 per litre in the UK and causing widespread increases, according to Bloomberg and Reuters data.
Leavitt addressed the reports directly. “I will confirm the president has met with his national security team this morning,” she said, adding around 1:23 p.m. ET, “The meeting may be ongoing, but the proposal was being discussed.”
She stressed caution, noting, “I don’t want to get ahead of the president or his national security team. What I will reiterate is that the president’s red lines with respect to Iran have been made very, very clear, not just to the American public, but also to them as well.”
Leavitt made clear this was not an endorsement, saying, “I would just say that there was a discussion this morning that I don’t want to get ahead of, and you’ll hear directly from the president, I’m sure on this topic, very soon.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio poured cold water on the overture during a Fox News interview. “What they mean by opening the straits is, ‘Yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up and you pay us,’” he said.
“That’s not opening the straits. Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it.”
The administration views curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions as paramount. “Everything will be peanuts compared to that, if they ever were given a nuclear weapon,” Trump said on Saturday.