US signals reluctance to accept Iran offer linking Hormuz reopening to sanctions relief

The Trump administration on Tuesday showed little inclination to accept Iran’s proposal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting US sanctions.

The offer would defer talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, a condition US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to reject in a Fox News interview on Monday.

“We have to ensure that any deal… definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point,” Rubio said of the proposal, which Pakistan conveyed to Washington.

The White House said President Donald Trump’s national security team had reviewed the offer and that he would respond later.

The proposal surfaced as Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Russia, a longstanding ally of Tehran, though Moscow’s potential role remains unclear.

Since the conflict began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and 2,521 in Lebanon, where clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah resumed shortly after the war broke out.

Another 23 people have died in Israel, along with more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Casualties also include 16 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 US service members in the region and six UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon