Trump Rejects Iran Ceasefire Plan, Weighs New Strikes

President Donald Trump has rejected the Iran ceasefire plan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, and told aides he expects U.S. bombing of Iran could resume after the November midterm elections. U.S. officials familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Trump was skeptical Tehran would meet his demands. The report landed the day after Araghchi laid out the offer to reporters in New York.

The Iran ceasefire plan was presented by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Araghchi told reporters Iran had conveyed the proposal to Washington through Qatar and was prepared to begin implementing it immediately if the United States agreed to the terms. The Iran ceasefire plan would have tied the reopening of the strait to an end of U.S. military pressure, changes to sanctions, and relief for Iranian ports, according to the Journal's reporting.

"Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, and normal maritime passage restored within seven days," Araghchi said at U.N. headquarters. "The choice now rests with the United States."

What the Iran ceasefire plan offered

Under the terms described by Araghchi and reported by the Associated Press, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days and resume negotiations over its nuclear program. In exchange, Tehran wants Washington to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, and agree to a ceasefire covering the wider region, including Lebanon. Araghchi said the Iran ceasefire plan resembles a memorandum of understanding the two sides had previously reached, but with a far shorter timetable; that earlier arrangement later collapsed. The proposal follows the shape of an earlier understanding between the two countries, compressed from weeks into days.

Why Trump rejected it

The Iran ceasefire plan was turned down, according to the Journal, because Trump doubted Tehran would hold up its end. Officials said the president told his staff he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely once the midterms are over, and he has said openly that Tehran is asking for a deal that would dismantle its nuclear program.

Trump has not hidden his frustration. In his speech to the General Assembly this week, he warned that with peace talks stalled he could choose to "annihilate" Iran. On Friday night he shared a map of the Persian Gulf on Truth Social with the Strait of Hormuz circled and labeled "Trump Strait," according to the New York Post. The post landed hours after reports that the Iran ceasefire plan had been turned down.

Still, the Journal's reporting says Trump is reluctant to restart major combat operations, partly because the United States wants to preserve munitions for other contingencies. His posture has alternated between pursuing diplomacy, ordering airstrikes, and tightening sanctions, and officials cautioned that his views could shift as the conflict continues. The Iran ceasefire plan was floated about seven months after fighting began on February 28, when the United States and Israel conducted joint strikes on Iran.

What comes next for the waterway

The Strait of Hormuz remains the central bargaining chip because it carried about a fifth of traded oil before the war, and its closure has strained energy markets and raised shipping costs. Shipping insurers and energy traders have watched the waterway closely since February, when the fighting closed it to normal traffic. Even after the Iran ceasefire plan collapsed, back-channel talks have not stopped: a U.S. official told Reuters that indirect discussions with Iran through intermediaries have been "positive and constructive," particularly on nuclear issues.

Whether that diplomacy produces another version of the Iran ceasefire plan is unclear. Araghchi said Tehran would not accept coercion or surrender its sovereign rights under pressure. For now, the waterway stays shut and both sides are talking past each other while the standoff continues.