Iranian officials said Wednesday they had received an official U.S. response to Tehran’s latest proposal to end the seven-month war. They disclosed neither its contents nor whether Washington had rejected it. As governments bargain over ports, sanctions and oil routes, people in Iran face soaring medicine prices, unemployment and a currency at a record low.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Fatemeh MoHajjerani told the state-run IRNA news agency. Pezeshkian said: “We will make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition and will firmly stand up for the rights of the Iranian people.” He added: “The agreement must now be based on a win-win strategy.”
Araghchi returned from New York before the meeting, after attending last week’s UN General Assembly. Iranian and U.S. officials held indirect talks there and met Qatari and Pakistani mediators on the sidelines. Araghchi briefed the Cabinet on his trip and Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which MoHajjerani said he had conveyed through mediators.
Ports, sanctions and the negotiating table
Araghchi said last week that he had proposed reopening the strait within a week if the United States lifted its blockade of Iranian ports, released frozen Iranian assets and waived sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions. President Donald Trump had publicly rejected the proposal days earlier, saying Iran wanted a deal because it was “losing so badly” and that its offer “would not be acceptable.” Mediators continued working with both governments to try to broker a deal to end the fighting and open the strait, officials said. They weren't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions against people and companies around the world it accused of acting as financial facilitators or enablers of Iran’s military supply chain. The Trump administration’s “Operation Economic Outcast” campaign includes the action and aims to sever “critical financial lifelines” for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government. Ten people and entities based in Iran, Hong Kong and Pakistan face sanctions over accusations they procured weapons and weapon components for Iran’s defense ministry as it fights the war.
Trump threatened Wednesday during an Oval Office exchange with reporters to “blow them up” if the United States and Iran didn't reach a deal soon. “It’s going to end very soon, one way or the other,” he said. At the start of the conflict, he predicted the war would last just weeks. More recently, he said he expected it wouldn't end until after the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections.
The costs outside the meeting rooms
Iran’s economy faced heavy strain before the war and has fallen sharply since the conflict began in late February. On Tuesday, the rial fell to a record low, with traders in Tehran exchanging more than 2.5 million rials for a U.S. dollar. The new low came 27 days after the currency reached its previous record low of 2.2 million to the dollar on Sept. 2.
Medication prices have soared as a U.S. blockade and stepped-up sanctions squeeze Iran’s pharmaceuticals industry. Some medicines have more than tripled in price. Some treatments are hard to find. Food and other goods have also become much more expensive as unemployment has risen and the currency has lost half its value. Iran has tried to push global energy prices higher with attacks on regional oil-shipping routes; the United States has sought to damage Iran’s economy by blockading its ports since June and imposing increasingly tough sanctions. The pressure is economic. Its effects land in pharmacies, markets and households.
The state-run IRNA news agency also reported Wednesday that two men were executed in Iran over their role in violence during nationwide anti-government protests in January. Citing the country’s judiciary, IRNA said the men took part in unrest in Mashhad that left four members of the security forces dead earlier that year. Iran’s Supreme Court upheld their death sentences, which authorities carried out Wednesday morning. The protests began Dec. 28 amid anger over the collapsing currency and worsening economy, then spread as demonstrators increasingly called for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. Iranian authorities responded with a deadly crackdown. Rights groups say thousands were killed and tens of thousands arrested; Iranian authorities have reported a substantially lower death toll.
Oil counts what people can't control
Oil prices were nearly flat in early Asia trade Thursday, Oct. 1, as investors assessed the talks and the outlook for Middle Eastern crude exports. Brent crude futures rose 12 cents, or 0.1%, to $98.15 a barrel by 0045 GMT; U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $90.35 a barrel. Both benchmarks rose about $1 a barrel Wednesday. Brent gained around 14% in September, its biggest monthly increase since July, while WTI rose about 5% for the month.
“Although buying continued amid supply concerns as peace talks stalled, selling pressure also prevailed as Middle Eastern oil exports showed signs of recovery,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities. He cited Saudi Arabia’s resumption of exports from its Red Sea port of Yanbu. He added that progress in negotiations would be needed for WTI to break below the immediate support level of $88 a barrel.
Qatar said Tuesday it hoped shuttle diplomacy between Tehran and Washington could lead to a breakthrough. Trump denied reports by Axios and CNN, citing U.S. officials, that he was willing to offer Iran sanctions relief and release frozen Iranian funds in return for “concrete” steps by Tehran on its nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia resumed oil-tanker loadings from Yanbu on Tuesday after restarting operations on its East-West Pipeline. Goldman Sachs estimated Gulf oil exports, including “dark exports” involving ships with location transponders turned off, had recovered to 23.3 million barrels per day over the previous week, in line with their 2025 average. Exports doubled in September, the firm said. OPEC+ oil-producing countries are likely to keep their production targets steady for November when they meet Sunday, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The EIA said U.S. crude inventories rose by 922,000 barrels to 427.3 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 25. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 264,000-barrel draw. Fuel inventories fell sharply on strong seasonal and global demand. In the official account, negotiations turn on leverage, supply and financial lifelines. Beyond the conference table, the same contest means scarce treatment, costlier essentials, arrests and executions.