President Donald Trump said in his UN General Assembly address on September 22 . Trump vigorously defended his performance as the President of the U.S., there were 10 references to Iran’s nuclear programme, which he claimed the U.S. had obliterated after its June 2025 bombing. “I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness? U.S. In the speech, in which Mr.
“I believe we’ll make a deal right after the [midterm] election because it doesn’t make sense for them not to,” he added. “I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” he said. Iran has an advanced nuclear programme but has repeatedly said that it was not seeking to build nuclear weapons.
In June, when the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran, Washington agreed to make concessions in return for reopening the Strait of Hormuz , while the nuclear talks were pushed to the back burner. Mr. Trump’s speech signalled a change in the approach of the administration towards the Iran conflict . But now, as the stalemate continues, the U.S. seeks to bring the nuclear file back into the negotiations. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were also in New York to attend the UNGA. On the sidelines of the assembly, Mr. Araghchi held indirect talks with U.S. officials, seeking to find a way out of the current impasse. Tehran submitted a seven-point proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in return for the U.S. lifting its naval blockade on Iranian ports, issuing sanctions waivers and releasing Iran’s frozen funds. it offered to fast-track the timeline While Iran’s demands remained unchanged. But Mr. The war appears to have hardened Iran’s position on the nuclear question. The U.S. attempts to open a safer route along the Omani coast to help tankers get in and out of the Strait of Hormuz have been relatively successful. But Iran insists that its core positions have not changed. Even though Mr. It is true that Iran is facing the economic heat of the U.S. blockade, but Tehran seems prepared to take the pain and not to submit to U.S. demands. And if Iran believes it is losing its leverage, it could also escalate the crisis militarily.
In effect, Iran wants the U.S. to return to the June 17 MoU. If the MoU had promised to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in 30 days, Iran now promises to reopen the waterway , which it blockaded in the initial days of the war, in seven days. Iran, according to Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad, was ready to make concessions on its nuclear programme on February 27 to avoid war. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose not to take the deal and started bombing Iran on February 28, killing its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . Whether with Iran’s tolerance or not, shipments through the waterway rose to almost 80% of its prewar levels in September. Before the war, the Gulf region exported nearly 19 million barrels of oil a day through the strait, which fell to a trickle in the first phase of the war, pumping up oil prices. Shipments rose to almost 13 million barrels a day in September, according to ship tracker Huax. Araghchi said on Tuesday (September 29, 2026) Tehran was expecting an official American response.
Trump said he rejected the Iranian offer. Trump said he rejected the Iranian seven-point proposal, Mr. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in a statement released on Monday (September 28), hailed the “defenders of Hormuz” and added that U.S. forces would be forced out of the Arabian Sea.
