Iran has confirmed that it has received an official U.S. response to its proposal aimed at reviving the Gulf ceasefire. The development comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly dismissed the Iranian initiative.
The exchange coincides with celebrations among Iran-aligned factions as US troops exit Iraq completely .The withdrawal concludes a multi-decade American military presence that saw 4,500 U.S. service members killed and resulted in the deaths of over 200,000 Iraqi civilians following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Tehran has characterized the U.S. departure as a significant victory for its “axis of resistance” and a strategic step toward its overarching goal of removing American military personnel from the region.
As the U.S.–Israeli conflict with Iran enters its ninth month, Tehran proposed a mechanism offering to reopen the disrupted Strait of Hormuz within seven days in exchange for the removal of the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Though U.S. President Donald Trump publicly stated Sunday that he had dismissed the plan, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi maintained that Tehran had not received a formal rejection. In a social media update on Wednesday, an Iranian government spokesperson confirmed that Araqchi had since conveyed an official U.S. response to the Iranian leadership.
Tehran asserts that its proposal aims to restore an interim agreement that collapsed several weeks after its initial signing by President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in June.
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Backstory…
In September, recall that Tehran and Washington resumed indirect communications through mediators including Qatar and Pakistan amid escalating pressure to resolve the ongoing conflict.
During the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi conveyed a seven-day proposal to the US through Qatari mediators.
Under the proposal, Iran would begin reopening the Strait of Hormuz if Washington lifted its naval blockade of Iranian ports, eased sanctions on Iranian oil exports and restored the ceasefire arrangements that had previously collapsed.
However, President Donald Trump rejected the proposal on September 26, saying the deal was unacceptable. Trump argued that Iran was seeking an agreement because of the economic pressure created by the disruption to the Strait of Hormuz.
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US Troops Exit Iraq : Move Seen as Defeat For Washington By Iran-Backed Groups
On Wednesday, U.S. and Iraqi officials confirmed the final departure of American troops from bases in Iraq, completing a drawdown agreement signed by former President Joe Biden in 2024 and executed under the Trump administration amid ongoing hostilities with nearby Iran.
The withdrawal was praised by Iran and its regional allies. Abu Mojtaba al-Yasiri, a commander within the Iranian-backed coalition known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, characterized the event as a “historic triumph for the Iraqi Islamic resistance organizations and respectable Iraqis, and a shattering loss for the American enterprise.”
The departure marks a major geopolitical shift for Iraq, a Shi’ite-majority nation where Tehran exercises broad political and military influence following the 2003 U.S. invasion.
Iraq has frequently served as a theater for proxy conflict between Iran and the United States. Seven of the 18 U.S. service members killed since President Trump initiated “Operation Epic Fury” in February died within Iraq. Washington attributes numerous regional strikes to Iranian-aligned Iraqi groups, including a drone attack that shut down a major Saudi crude pipeline three weeks ago.
Political analyst Ahmed Younis, based in Baghdad, noted that the U.S. exit raises “the likelihood that Iran’s proxies would feel increasingly strong in the absence of a Western military presence,” warning that these factions “might try to increase their influence on state policy and strengthen their position in important institutions.”
Meanwhile, domestic polling in the United States shows that public support for the war against Iran has remained consistently low since its inception.
