Trump expects new Iran talks this week after rejecting Tehran’s proposal

President Donald Trump expects US negotiators to engage in further talks with Iran this week, he said in a phone interview with Axios on Sunday, September 27, a day after rejecting Tehran’s proposal on the Strait of Hormuz. The prospect of renewed contact is a fresh diplomatic development; neither side has announced an agreement or a formal meeting.

Trump told Axios that Iran wanted a deal but the terms on offer were not acceptable to him. Asked about the possibility of renewed US strikes, he said he was considering it. His remarks left open both negotiation and military pressure as Qatar and other regional mediators worked to narrow the distance between the governments.

Two regional sources told Axios they expected another round of indirect dialogue as early as Monday. That expectation does not establish that a meeting will take place. Qatari mediators have been passing messages between Iranian and American officials, and the two sides continue to disagree over what steps should come first.

Hormuz and the nuclear dispute

Tehran has sought to center the discussions on passage through the Strait of Hormuz and the US naval blockade. Washington is pressing for concessions on Iran’s nuclear program. The latest Iranian proposal envisaged reopening the waterway and resuming nuclear talks within a week if the United States lifted its blockade, removed restrictions on Iranian oil sales and restored a regional ceasefire. Trump rejected that proposal on Saturday.

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held indirect talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during the United Nations General Assembly in New York the previous Tuesday. Qatari officials relayed messages. Axios reported, citing a US official and regional sources, that the mediators continued shuttle diplomacy after the rejection and circulated a compromise text for consideration. No agreed text has been announced.

According to that account, Qatari mediators could meet separately with Araghchi and Witkoff on Monday. The sequence matters because both governments have publicly framed their demands as conditions for any wider settlement. A new exchange through mediators would keep a negotiating channel open without necessarily resolving the blockade or the nuclear question.

Araghchi said in a Sunday interview with NBC that Iran remained ready for diplomacy despite Trump’s rejection. He said Tehran was still awaiting an official response delivered through intermediaries. Separately, Iran’s military command warned over the weekend that US positions in the region would face retaliation if Washington launched new attacks. The warning and the diplomatic statements represent different parts of Tehran’s public position; neither establishes that fighting has resumed.

Trump also claimed that more than 20 million barrels of oil had moved through the strait over the weekend. Axios said a US defense official put Friday night’s exports at 22 million barrels. These are US accounts of the flow through the waterway, which has remained a central point of contention in the war and in the attempted negotiations.