President Donald Trump said Saturday he rejected Iran's offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, extending the closure of the waterway that normally carries roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil and a major share of Gulf container and LNG flows.

"They made a proposal but I rejected it," Trump said as he departed the White House. "They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they're losing so badly."

The US naval blockade remains in place. Trump said it is putting mounting economic pressure on Iran — a pressure point that directly shapes insurance costs, tanker availability and route planning for any operator still working Gulf trades.

What was on the table?

US and Iranian negotiators had been exploring a deal under which Tehran would reopen Hormuz and Washington would lift its blockade of Iranian ports, a person familiar with the matter said. The pact would have mirrored the memorandum of understanding the two countries reached in mid-June, which produced a fragile ceasefire that collapsed weeks later.

That precedent matters for forwarders and carriers. Any resumption of traffic through Hormuz now rests on a negotiation framework that has already failed once, and the June collapse left carriers exposed to sudden rerouting costs when hostilities resumed.

Why the deal fell apart

Trump's rejection wasn't isolated. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Trump expects to resume the US bombing campaign against Iran after the midterm elections in early November and doubts Iran's willingness to meet his demands. Trump declined to answer a question about whether bombing would restart after the midterms.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian drew his own red lines at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. He said Iran would not allow freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz while sanctions and the US blockade remain in place, and would not give up the right to develop nuclear technology for economic purposes.

Two hard positions. No overlap. No near-term reopening.

Houthis escalate on the Saudi front

The diplomatic freeze coincided with fresh attacks on the Saudi capital. Saudi-backed coalition forces in Yemen said air defenses intercepted two Houthi drones launched toward Riyadh on Saturday, plus a ballistic missile aimed at the southern border area of Khamis Mushait. Civil defense issued danger alerts overnight in Abha and Jazan.

Riyadh's residents got air raid alerts a week ago — the first since the height of hostilities in March and April, when air defenses intercepted missiles headed for the capital. The return of Red Sea-adjacent escalation revives the risk calculus that pushed carriers off Suez routings earlier in the conflict.

What it means for shipping

For shippers and carriers, the message from Saturday is that Hormuz access is now hostage to a negotiation both sides expect to lose. Iran frames the strait as leverage that disappears the moment sanctions lift; Washington frames the blockade as leverage that disappears the moment the strait opens.

That symmetry suggests no quick fix. The June MOU collapsed in weeks, and the next credible decision point — a possible resumption of US bombing after the November midterms — points toward escalation, not de-escalation. Operators planning Gulf cargo through the fourth quarter should assume the blockade holds, with all the cost, insurance and routing consequences that follow.