Iran Offers to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz Within Two Days if Washington Lifts Its Blockade. Gulf Officials Say They Are 'Braced for the Worst'

Indirect talks between the United States and Iran in Doha ran into a third day on Sunday as Qatar tried to negotiate the release of more than $6 billion in Iranian assets, a step that could lead to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and restarting talks on Iran's nuclear program, The Guardian reported.

Officials from the Gulf states are "braced for the worst" as they wait for Washington's response to an Iranian proposal, according to The Guardian's diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour. United Arab Emirates envoy Anwar Gargash said another round of escalation was not in the interests of Iran or its neighbors. "We are also, as we have shown before, braced for the worst," he said. "Relations with Iran are essential, because Iran is our neighbour and we do not want to see it get caught up in a prolonged crisis."

By Monday, Al-Monitor reported that Iranian negotiators had left the Doha talks and that a draft proposal for a U.S. deal was being circulated, with messages continuing to pass through Qatar.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran had offered to open the strait within two days of the United States acting to lift its blockade on oil ships, stop blocking the release of Iranian assets and end sanctions on Iranian oil exports, The Guardian reported. Qatar's mediation has focused on compressing the sequence by which the United States lifts sanctions and Iran reopens the strait and begins nuclear talks; Iran agreed to cut that timetable from seven days to two, according to The Guardian.

Araghchi said he hoped the United States would choose "diplomacy over other paths" and that Iran was ready for both defense and diplomacy, depending on Washington's "rationality." He said there were no plans for direct talks.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States had knocked out much of Iran's military but still had to "take care of" one or two targets, and that negotiations to end the war, which the United States and Israel began in February, were "going fine but you know they're not very reliable," The Guardian reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was open to a diplomatic solution.

Iran's security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, disclosed that he had received a letter from Vice President JD Vance seeking to revive talks and said he noticed a positive change in "tone" but had not yet responded, according to The Guardian.

Tehran has also signaled limits. Ali Nikzad, deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, said Iran "has made a decision not to negotiate on the nuclear issue under any circumstances or under any pressure," The Guardian reported.

Qatar's mediation continued despite unidentified missiles striking a Pakistan-bound Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker near the strait on Friday, hours after the ship had received direct clearance and safe-passage approval from Tehran, The Guardian reported. No one had claimed responsibility in the reporting cited.

The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow channel between Iran and Oman through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes. Its closure has pushed up energy prices worldwide.

Washington had not publicly accepted or rejected Iran's proposal as of Monday morning. Whether the United States agrees to release frozen assets and ease the blockade, whether Iran would then reopen the strait on its two-day timetable, and whether any deal would extend to the nuclear program, which Iranian officials say they will not negotiate, all remained open.

Araghchi is scheduled to travel to Turkmenistan on Monday, while other Iranian diplomats remain involved in the mediation, The Guardian reported.