Free travel again soon? A soldier aboard a US warship observes a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.Image: imago
Suddenly Tehran no longer wants to talk about the nuclear program. But there should be a quick solution for the Strait of Hormuz. The US government is still resisting.
April 28, 2026, 5:58 p.mApril 28, 2026, 5:58 p.m
Thomas Seibert, Nicosia / ch media
Iran is causing problems for US President Donald Trump with a new proposal to end the war. Tehran is offering an immediate agreement to end the conflict by lifting the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but wants to postpone talks on Iran’s nuclear program until later.
Trump is “not happy” about the plan, US media report. However, he doesn’t have many alternatives. Therefore, there could be a two-step solution based on the Iranian plan.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi handed over the plan to mediator Pakistan during a visit to Islamabad at the weekend, who forwarded the proposal to the USA. According to consistent reports from US media, Iran first wants to agree on a formal end to the war and the opening of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
That could end the global crisis in markets for oil, gas, fertilizer and other products caused by Iran’s closure of the strait and the subsequent U.S. blockade of the waters to Iranian ships. According to Tehran, controversial issues such as the Iranian nuclear program will only be discussed later.
The Strait of Hormuz in focus.Image: Getty Images North America
Trump is interested in a rapid easing of tensions on global markets because American voters are complaining about rising prices for gasoline and other products and important congressional elections in the United States are coming up in November.
If he voted yes to Tehran’s plan, the president would have to wait for a contract on new limits on Iran’s nuclear program and on the disposal of 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium in Iranian facilities. Trump justified the war of aggression against Iran by arguing that he wanted to make it impossible to build an Iranian nuclear bomb.
The USA lacks effective leverage
“The nuclear issue is the reason we’re even in this,” Trump’s Secretary of State and security adviser Marco Rubio told Fox. It is therefore unlikely that the US government will agree to the Iranian plan without making improvements. A yes to the plan could give the impression that Trump had been deprived of a victory, the New York Times quoted unnamed government officials in Washington as saying.
However, the USA has little opportunity to force Iran to make immediate concessions on the nuclear issue. According to media reports, Trump does not want to start the war again and has extended the ceasefire indefinitely. The news portal Axios quoted a Trump adviser as saying that the president was frustrated but realistic.
Is US President Donald Trump making a compromise?Image: keystone
Tehran is adamant. The Iranian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the US could no longer “dictate” its terms. However, the Tehran regime also wants a solution to be able to rebuild its destroyed infrastructure and repair its relations with its Arab neighbors. On Tuesday, Iran banned the export of steel products, another sign of the Islamic Republic’s growing economic woes.
“The moment of decision” is getting closer, wrote Israeli expert Raz Zimmt from the security policy institute INSS on X. A two-stage agreement based on the Iranian proposal is apparently the only model that the USA and Iran are currently discussing with mediator Pakistan.
In the first phase, it could be agreed to allow tankers and freighters to sail in the Strait of Hormuz as freely as before the war. In the subsequent phase, the Iranian nuclear program would then be discussed.
To resolve the question of what to do with the stockpile of 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium in Iran’s possession, Russia has offered to take over the material; Iran had already sent its uranium to Russia under the 2015 nuclear deal – which Trump canceled. According to its own statements, the Kremlin is now ready to do this again, but the USA has so far rejected this. (aargauerzeitung.ch)