Iran has refused to soften its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, leaving one of the world's most important energy chokepoints closed to traffic even after US President Donald Trump publicly rejected Tehran's latest proposal.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had taken note of Trump's comments but was still waiting for a definitive US response through Qatar and Pakistan, which have been acting as mediators between the two governments. A negotiated settlement, he said, remains the only realistic path out of the standoff over the waterway that normally carries a large share of globally traded crude and petroleum products.

"A negotiated solution is the only way to resolve the impasse," Araghchi's position amounted to, according to his public comments on the matter.

The sticking point: for Iran, sanctions relief and the lifting of the US blockade on its ports come before any reopening of Hormuz. For Washington, the sequence runs the other way.

What did Washington reject?

Trump said Saturday that Iran had put a proposal on the table and that he turned it down. His reasoning, as he framed it, was that Tehran wanted the strait reopened immediately — a demand he read as a sign of weakness rather than leverage.

According to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the negotiations, US and Iranian negotiators had been weighing a deal under which Tehran would reopen the strait and Washington would lift its blockade of Iranian ports in return.

The structure of that prospective arrangement closely resembled the memorandum of understanding reached in mid-June, which produced a ceasefire before hostilities resumed. That precedent matters for shippers and carriers: it shows both sides have been willing to trade closure for relief before, and could do so again — but it also shows how fragile such agreements have proved.

What does the impasse mean for shipping?

For carriers, tanker operators and charterers, the commercial picture is straightforward and unwelcome. As long as Hormuz remains effectively closed, tonnage that would normally transit the strait is being rerouted, adding steaming days and insurance costs to energy supply chains. The longer the standoff persists, the more those costs harden into baseline freight economics rather than temporary disruption premia.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian removed any ambiguity about his government's position at the UN General Assembly last week. He said Tehran would not permit freedom of navigation through Hormuz as long as US sanctions and the blockade of its ports stay in place. He also reiterated that Iran would not give up what it considers its right to develop nuclear technology for economic purposes — a statement that keeps the broader sanctions architecture, and therefore the blockade, firmly in place.

For forwarders and cargo owners with exposure to Gulf energy and petrochemical flows, the message from both capitals is that no reopening is imminent.

Could strikes resume after the US midterms?

The diplomatic track looks even shakier given reporting from The Wall Street Journal that Trump expects to resume strikes against Iran after the US midterm elections in early November, and that he remains skeptical Tehran will meet his demands. Asked directly whether bombing would resume after the elections, Trump declined to answer.

That timeline gives shippers and underwriters a rough planning horizon: a potential window of relative calm before early November, followed by renewed escalation risk. Marine war-risk pricing and routing decisions in the region are likely to price in that possibility rather than assume de-escalation.

Is the conflict spilling into Saudi Arabia?

Tensions widened on Saturday beyond the Iran-US corridor. Saudi-backed coalition forces in Yemen said air defences intercepted two Houthi drones targeting Riyadh and a ballistic missile aimed at Khamis Mushait in southern Saudi Arabia.

Those attacks followed air-raid alerts in Riyadh roughly a week earlier, when missiles heading toward the Saudi capital were intercepted. Red Sea and Gulf routing decisions — already complicated by years of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping — now have to account for renewed threats to the Saudi heartland itself.

Where does this leave the negotiations?

Both sides remain dug in. Iran is holding to its conditions even after Trump's public rejection. Washington has not delivered a formal response through the Qatari and Pakistani mediators, according to Araghchi, despite the president's weekend comments.

The mid-June memorandum, which briefly produced a ceasefire before fighting resumed, remains the only working template either side has accepted — and its collapse suggests any repeat deal would carry the same fragility.

For the freight market, the operative question is whether negotiators can resurrect a blockade-for-reopening swap before the US midterm elections in early November, or whether the region heads into a new round of strikes with Hormuz shut and Gulf shipping risk elevated.