– The Washington Times
The White House said Monday that it had received an offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if talks about its nuclear program are postponed, prompting a debate among President Trump and his security team.
The proposal would offer an accelerated path to ending the 2-month-old war.
Mr. Trump is eager to maintain his blockade of Iranian ports to preserve leverage in negotiations over Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
The White House was careful to characterize the debate in the Situation Room as a discussion, not a formal consideration, of the proposal.
“The proposal was being discussed,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The president’s red lines with respect to Iran have been made very, very clear, not just to the American public but to them as well.”
Both sides are looking for a way forward after negotiations faltered again over the weekend. Mr. Trump canceled a U.S. delegation’s trip to Pakistan for talks at the last minute.
Mr. Trump said Tehran is suffering from the port blockade and is under immense pressure to make a deal, so the Americans can afford to wait for better terms from Tehran and its factions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had already flown to Islamabad in preparation for new talks before Mr. Trump called off his envoys Saturday.
On Monday, Mr. Araghchi blamed the inconsistent U.S. actions for slowing diplomacy.
“The continuation of the United States’ harmful practices — particularly its insistence on unreasonable demands, frequent shifts in positions, threatening rhetoric and repeated breaches of commitments — has slowed progress in diplomacy,” he said during a visit to St. Petersburg to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials. Russia is a strategic partner to Iran.
The U.S. and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on Feb. 28 to prevent Tehran from gaining a nuclear weapon while curtailing its missile program and support for terrorists in the Middle East.
The conflict is shifting from a shooting war to an economic battle of wills.
Mr. Trump imposed the blockade of Iranian ports, hoping to force Tehran to the negotiating table, but Iranian restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz are choking off critical oil and other material supply chains.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to Fox News on Monday, said Iran is “worse off and weaker” than it was before the war, when it suffered from a drought and protests tied to economic concerns.
He said some in Iran are serious about making a deal for that reason.
However, “one of the impediments here is that our negotiators aren’t just negotiating with Iranians,” Mr. Rubio said. “Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they’re willing to do, even who they’re willing to meet with.”
In the meantime, European and Asian allies are increasingly bitter about energy shortages caused by waterway closures in the Middle East. Some major airlines have canceled flights because of fuel shortages.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the safe, unimpeded passage of maritime traffic in the strait is an “economic and humanitarian imperative.”
“The economic shock has been immediate, and everyone is paying the price,” Mr. Guterres said. “These pressures are cascading into empty fuel tanks, empty shelves and empty plates. The humanitarian toll is mounting.”
American consumers have not felt quite the same pinch, though gasoline costs are rising alongside oil prices.
The U.S. average price of a gallon of gasoline on Monday stood at $4.11, a 1-cent increase from Sunday, according to AAA. Regular gasoline cost around $3 per gallon at the start of the war.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed, gas prices are soaring, and billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, wrote Monday on X. “How is this reckless war of choice working out for the American people?”
Europe, in particular, has suffered from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and has made its reopening its primary peace objective.
The European Union worked to shift away from Russian oil imports after the Russia-Ukraine war started in February 2022. The U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran has nearly eliminated Europe’s access to Middle Eastern oil.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that it is too early to consider removing sanctions on Iran, even if the Islamic republic agrees to reopen the strait.
Speaking at a conference in Berlin, Ms. von der Leyen said Iran’s oppressive actions against its public are a stain on its legitimacy and that Tehran would have to show capacity to change before Europe considers sanctions relief.
“We first have to see a change, a fundamental change in Iran for the dropping of sanctions,” she said. “There is a reason why the sanctions are imposed on Iran, because of their behavior towards their own population.”
Ms. von der Leyen’s comments were seen as a rebuke of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s proposal earlier this month to have the European Union consider removing sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran allowing commercial shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has kept the strait effectively closed since early March with a combination of drones, missiles, small boats and sea mines. Its closure has put extreme pressure on global energy markets and supply, with at least one-fifth of the world’s oil traveling through the strait each year.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said closures in the Strait of Hormuz began after the U.S. and Israel decided to attack Iran without a clear set of goals, though he said Iran bears the “overwhelming responsibility” for restrictions in the waterway.
“Straits are the arteries of the world. They are not the property of any individual,” he said. “They are not for sale; therefore, they cannot be impeded by any obstacles — neither tolls, nor bribery; neither by Iran, nor by any other party, and under no pretext.”
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
