The reference to a Tuesday timeline gives oil traders a near-term catalyst, which concentrates headline risk into the next day or so. Language that mediation has become more serious is modestly constructive for those pricing a Hormuz reopening, though Tehran has not detailed its conditions and Washington has publicly disputed the idea of sanctions relief, so the signal is mixed. Crude has been trading in both directions on each diplomatic headline, and that is likely to continue until a US reply either narrows or widens the gaps on sequencing.
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Earlier:
- Araqchi: Iran discussed ideas with Qatari mediators, Hormuz conditions must be met
- Trump denies offering Iran sanctions relief, calls Axios report a hoax
—Iran says mediation through Qatar and Pakistan has turned more serious since it presented a plan, and it wants the US final answer by Tuesday.
Summary:
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said he hopes to receive the US final response through Qatari mediators by Tuesday, according to IRNA.
- He said Tehran discussed with the Qatari mediators ideas on how to fulfil Iran’s conditions, and that the mediators will raise those ideas with the US side.
- Araqchi said the Qatari and Pakistani mediation channels have taken a more serious form after Iran presented a plan.
- The remarks follow earlier comments that the US response will be relayed through Qatar and that the Supreme Leader’s conditions must be implemented for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen.
- The ideas and conditions were not detailed in the reports.
More from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who said he hopes to receive the United States’ final response through Qatari mediators by Tuesday, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency. His remarks add to earlier comments carried by IRNA, in which he said Tehran had discussed ideas with the mediators to be put to Washington and that the conditions stressed by Iran’s Supreme Leader must be implemented for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen.
Araqchi said Iran discussed with the Qatari mediators ideas on how to fulfil those conditions, and that the mediators will raise the ideas with the US side. He also said the Qatari and Pakistani mediation channels have taken on a more serious form since Iran presented a plan. The reports did not detail the ideas or spell out the conditions.
The comments come after a weekend in which US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait. US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Trump turned it down because it required the immediate lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen assets. Qatari mediators had been expected to hold separate talks with the Iranian and US sides on Monday or Tuesday, focused on an amended version of a seven-day proposal that Iran presented last week, according to an official cited by Reuters.
Axios reported on Monday, citing US officials, that Trump was willing to give Iran sanctions relief and release frozen funds in return for concrete progress on the nuclear issue, and a US official described the indirect talks as positive and constructive while saying gaps remain on timing and sequencing. Trump later denied on Truth Social that he had offered Iran anything and called the Axios report a hoax.
Oil traded on the diplomatic headlines throughout Monday. Brent settled around $105 a barrel after an early jump of more than $4 faded, and earlier reports of possible sanctions relief had coincided with softer crude. Middle East exports have recovered in recent weeks, though flows through the strait remain below pre-conflict levels.
Attention now turns to whether the US reply arrives by Tuesday as Araqchi hopes, and whether the mediators can narrow the gaps before Iran’s conditions for reopening the strait are tested.
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.