Iran Proposes 7-Day Plan to End War

Iran’s foreign minister said Thursday that Tehran had proposed to Washington a seven-day plan to cease hostilities, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and then begin comprehensive talks on his country’s nuclear program. Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, told reporters at a press briefing at the United Nations General Assembly that the proposal closely mirrored the commitments laid out in a so-called memorandum of understanding that was struck between the United States and Iran in June but quickly unraveled. He said Iran was ready to begin putting the plan into effect as soon as Washington agreed to it. “We have introduced a plan to the United States through the intermediators that if certain conditions are met, the Strait of Hormuz would be open on the end of the seventh day and talks would restart,” Mr. Araghchi said. He said “it would be better,” if a deal was reached before the U.S. midterm elections. An American official familiar with the talks said that the administration was having positive and constructive discussions through mediators, but that the United States was not going to rush into a deal. The Iranian proposal came even as President Trump and Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, delivered mutually hostile speeches at the United Nations. Mr. Trump threatened Iran with “annihilation” if it did not strike a deal, while a defiant Mr. Pezeshkian told world leaders his country would not be bullied. Though Iran’s proposal contains many of the same conditions of the deal that fell apart, the behind-the-scenes diplomacy suggested that both sides may see much to gain from finding an off-ramp from the war. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe .