Iran has presented the US with a road map to end their conflict that includes a regionwide ceasefire, the gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to the US blockade of the country, regional sources told The National on Wednesday.
They spoke a day after US and Iranian officials held talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, in the latest bid to break the deadlock over efforts to end their conflict.
The Tuesday talks were mediated by US allies Qatar, Pakistan and Egypt and a second round of talks was likely to be held later on Wednesday, said the sources, who had been briefed on the matter by mediators.
They said Iran was proposing a regionwide ceasefire of up to 60 days, a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to the US blockade. Iran was also seeking to persuade the US to agree to a timeline for negotiations to end the conflict while the proposed ceasefire was in force, the sources said.
Iran's proposal also provides for a halt to attacks on its Arab neighbours, according to the sources. They did not say whether the US had agreed to the Iranian road map, but said US President Donald Trump had ruled out lifting the blockade before Iran took measures to show sufficient goodwill.
"The Iranian road map is a sort of detailed agenda for future, substantive negotiations to end the conflict and reach a comprehensive resolution to differences with Washington," said one source.
"It also repackages or summarises the outcome of previous rounds of negotiations, with 'pressing' issues singled out for immediate action."
The sources said Tuesday's talks started with a meeting that brought together Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
That meeting was followed by another attended by experts and diplomats from both sides. Mr Witkoff wrote on X that he “engaged in lengthy talks with the Iranian delegation through the mediators, who shuttled between the two sides throughout the day”.
He added that “they successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising. The mediators will continue their work”.
Addressing the UN General Assembly before Tuesday's meeting, Mr Trump called on the international community to impose “complete economic isolation” on Iran until it stopped attacks on commercial shipping, abandoned its nuclear ambitions and ended its support for terrorism.
“The terrorist regime is behaving badly, not because they are strong and confident, but because they are weak and desperate,” Mr Trump said.
“If we stand united, we will soon see a world free of the last 51-year menace of Iranian terror, and oil prices will come plummeting down even lower than they were at the start of the conflict, and they were very low. In the United States, they were really low.”
Also on Tuesday, Mr Trump met Gulf and Arab officials to discuss the Iran war and ways to ease the conflict after months of missile and drone attacks by Iran and its regional proxies on Arab states.
Gulf officials have said in recent days that dialogue with Iran must remain on the table, acknowledging that rebuilding trust will not happen overnight but that the process has to start somewhere.
According to the sources, Mr Trump has conveyed messages that he would try to “persuade” representatives of Arab nations to sit down with Iranian officials.
The US President is hoping that representatives of the two sides will meet in Oman, possibly in the city of Salalah, later this month to start a reconciliation process to end hostilities and recalibrates relations, said the sources.
They said Mr Trump's attempt to end the Iran war and achieve a level of Iranian-Arab reconciliation was linked with his wish to achieve a major diplomatic victory to help his Republican Party to retain its majority in Congress in November's midterm elections.
Mr Trump's approval ratings are slipping in opinion polls due to the Iran war and the steep rise in fuel prices in the US.
The sources said the US President's bid to end the war was dependent in part on efforts by Egypt, Washington's long-time ally, to reconcile Iran with its Arab neighbours. They said talks this week in Cairo between Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and CIA director John Ratcliffe had looked at the idea of achieving an Iranian-Arab reconciliation.
Egypt, the most populous Arab nation with an army considered the region's largest, has been in regular contact with the Iranians since the conflict began in late February. It has been walking a tightrope to reconcile its historical and close ties to Gulf allies and economic benefactors with its channels of communication with Tehran.
Egypt and Iran have in recent years emerged from decades of fraught relations dating back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The two countries communicate at the highest level – the latest meeting between Mr El Sisi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian took place in India this month on the sidelines of the Brics summit – but they are yet to exchange ambassadors.
