OddsFrontIran says Hormuz could reopen in two days if Washington accepts its terms
Tehran’s foreign ministry cut its proposed timetable for restoring passage through the strait from a week to 48 hours, but says the next move belongs to the US, with midterms a day away.
Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz could be restored within two days, provided the United States accepts Tehran’s conditions. Euronews reported that the timetable is shorter than the seven days Iran proposed in September, when it first raised the idea with Washington through Qatari mediators.
Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei described the faster schedule as further evidence of Iran’s good faith. He said security in the strait could be restored, and the negotiating process resumed, quickly if Iran’s demands are met. Messages continue to pass between the sides via mediators, he said, and “everything depends” on Washington. CBS News quoted Iranian officials as saying the ball is in the US court.
Tehran’s list of demands
According to Euronews, the conditions include an end to the war on all fronts, the release of frozen Iranian assets abroad, relief from sanctions on the oil sector and an end to the American naval blockade of Iranian ports. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera in an interview aired on Sunday that Washington must also endorse a new passage arrangement for the strait worked out by Iran and Oman, scale back its military presence in the region and lift the sanctions introduced since August.
Since the war began in late February, Iran says it has kept control of Hormuz and has repeatedly targeted vessels crossing without its permission, while the US has blockaded Iranian ports.
Military pressure and mediation
The diplomacy is unfolding alongside sharper threats. Euronews said Donald Trump stated on Saturday that one or two targets remained to be dealt with, among them Pickaxe mountain in central Iran, which Washington suspects of sheltering nuclear facilities. Iran rejects that. Baghaei warned that any attack would draw a powerful, immediate and comprehensive reply.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi flew to Doha on Monday to help prepare a preliminary text, with Qatar mediating. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said he had received a letter from Vice President JD Vance but had not answered, and that the US must meet Iran’s terms before talks start.
China said it would send special envoy Zhai Jun to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Chinese state media reported that Beijing and Muscat jointly urged both sides to go back to the “Islamabad memorandum of understanding”.
What happens next
The timing is politically sensitive. US midterm elections take place on Tuesday, and Euronews noted that economic strains tied to the war have raised the chance of Republican losses in Congress. Results due on Wednesday fall on the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, when demonstrations are expected across Iran.
On Polymarket, traders put the chance that the US announces an end to its blockade of Iran by November 30 at 27%, against 23% a week ago. Whether Washington will meet Tehran’s terms, and how Trump intends to proceed, remains unclear.