Iran weighs US response to peace proposal as New York talks end in deadlock

Iran is reviewing an official US response to its latest proposal aimed at ending the seven-month conflict, even as negotiations on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly failed to produce a breakthrough and Washington reportedly ordered Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's delegation to leave New York.

The diplomatic exchanges have kept alive a narrow channel between Tehran and Washington after US President Donald Trump publicly rejected Iran's proposal days earlier. Qatar and Pakistan have continued mediation efforts, with Qatari officials conveying Washington's latest response to the Iranian side.

US response reaches Tehran

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said Araghchi presented the US response to President Masoud Pezeshkian during a Cabinet meeting after returning from his visit to New York.

Iranian officials have not publicly disclosed the full contents of Washington's response or said whether it amounts to a rejection, counter-proposal or request for further negotiations.

Pezeshkian said Tehran would continue efforts to reach an agreement while defending what it considers the rights of the Iranian people. He said any agreement would have to be based on a “win-win strategy”.

An official briefed on the negotiations said the two sides broadly agree on several steps needed to move towards de-escalation, but remain divided over the order in which those measures should be implemented. That sequencing dispute has emerged as one of the central obstacles to an agreement.

Seven-day Hormuz proposal

Araghchi used his visit to New York to convey Iran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically important waterway through which a substantial share of global oil supplies normally passes.

Under Tehran's proposal, Iran would move towards restoring normal navigation through the strait within seven days if Washington took a series of steps.

These included lifting the US blockade of Iranian ports, releasing at least $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets and granting sanctions relief for Iranian oil exports. Tehran has also sought an end to the fighting as part of the arrangement.

Iran has argued that these measures should precede negotiations on broader issues. Washington, by contrast, wants Iran's nuclear programme included in negotiations, according to officials familiar with the diplomatic exchanges.

Tehran's position is that discussions on the nuclear programme should follow implementation of its initial conditions rather than form a prerequisite for them.

Trump rejected initial offer

Trump publicly rejected the Iranian proposal last week, saying its terms were unacceptable. However, he subsequently indicated that he remained open to negotiations with Tehran.

Despite the public rejection, mediators continued moving messages between the two governments. The official US response subsequently reached Araghchi through Qatari mediation as the Iranian foreign minister travelled home from New York.

The continued exchanges suggest that Trump's rejection did not completely close the diplomatic track, though substantial differences remain.

Iran has maintained that diplomacy offers the only sustainable way out of the confrontation, while simultaneously signalling that it will not accept negotiations under what it regards as coercive conditions.

Talks fail in New York

Araghchi remained in New York after Pezeshkian left following his address to the UN General Assembly, allowing indirect contacts to continue.

The Iranian side held discussions through intermediaries, principally Qatar, as diplomats attempted to narrow differences over the Strait of Hormuz, the wider conflict and Iran's nuclear programme. Those efforts failed to produce a concrete agreement.

Two US officials said Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently ordered Araghchi and the Iranian delegation to leave New York earlier than planned. The Iranian delegation departed early Tuesday.

A US official said the delegation had “overstayed their welcome” after the UN General Assembly concluded, framing Rubio's action as a response to the failure to make sufficient progress in the negotiations.

Iran disputes expulsion account

Tehran, however, rejected the US account that its diplomats had effectively been expelled.

Iran's mission to the United Nations said the delegation left New York on Monday evening according to a schedule that had already been communicated to the US State Department on September 17.

The mission accused Washington of promoting a misleading account of the departure following the failure of the negotiations.

The competing versions have added another layer of friction to an already difficult diplomatic process. What is clear is that Araghchi left the United States without securing an agreement, travelled through Doha and subsequently returned to Iran, where he briefed Pezeshkian and the Cabinet.

Nuclear issue remains obstacle

The disagreement over sequencing extends beyond sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington wants Iran's nuclear programme to form part of the negotiations, while Tehran insists that its immediate conditions must first be addressed before nuclear discussions begin.

That dispute mirrors a longstanding problem in US-Iran diplomacy: both governments want concessions from the other side before taking politically costly steps of their own.

For Tehran, economic relief has become increasingly important as sanctions and restrictions on oil exports place additional pressure on an economy already struggling with inflation and currency weakness. For Washington, any settlement that does not address the nuclear issue would leave unresolved one of the central disputes between the two countries.

Diplomatic window remains open

Despite the failure to secure an agreement in New York, neither side has formally closed the diplomatic channel.

Qatar remains at the centre of the mediation effort, while Pakistan has also been involved in attempts to bridge differences. Tehran's decision to study the US response rather than reject it immediately indicates that discussions could continue indirectly.

The gap, however, remains substantial. The immediate challenge is not simply determining what measures each side is prepared to take, but deciding who moves first.

With Iran seeking sanctions relief, access to frozen funds and an end to the blockade before broader negotiations, and Washington seeking commitments on the nuclear programme as part of the process, the dispute over sequencing could determine whether the latest initiative develops into negotiations or becomes another failed attempt to halt the conflict.