Shafaq News- Tehran

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi received Washington’s response to Tehran’s seven-day proposal, Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani announced on Wednesday, while an official briefed on the talks told Reuters that the two sides remain divided over the sequence of the proposed steps.

The official, who was not Iranian, said Araghchi received the US feedback from Qatari mediators in Doha on Tuesday, adding that the disagreement centers on the sequencing of the measures rather than the components of the plan.

Under Tehran’s proposal, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear negotiations within a week in exchange for Washington lifting its naval blockade, removing restrictions on Iranian oil sales, and restoring a regional ceasefire. Araghchi presented the plan to US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during indirect talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 22. US President Donald Trump later rejected Tehran’s proposal to reopen the Strait, asserting that Washington had “total control” over the strategic waterway.

The proposal seeks a seven-day period of confidence-building toward an enhanced version of the June 17 Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, including “concrete steps” concerning Iran’s nuclear program, according to the official.

President Masoud Pezeshkian told political and social activists that Iran had “not retreated from our principles in any of the provisions of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.” The 14-article memorandum established a temporary framework for ending military operations across all fronts, including Lebanon, lifting the maritime blockade and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Separately, Iran’s Civil Defense announced heightened preparedness at 46 infrastructure facilities on Wednesday, including oil refineries, power stations, ports, bridges and airports, citing precautions against potential attacks.