This distributed photo provided by U.S. Central Command shows U.S. forces patrolling the Arabian Sea near the M/V Tuska on April 20, 2026, after firing on an Iranian-flagged vessel that the U.S. accused of attempting to violate the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz.
US Navy | Getty Images
President Donald Trump and his national security team on Monday discussed Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz once the U.S. lifts its blockade and the war ends, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt confirmed.
The proposal would postpone negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program to a later date, Axios and the Associated Press reported early Monday.
It remains unclear whether President Trump, who has vowed not to lift the blockade until the deal with Iran is “100% complete,” will accept a proposal that reportedly would end the two-month war.
Asked about the report at a press conference Monday afternoon, Levitt said, “I can confirm that the president met with his national security team this morning.”
“The meeting may be continuing, but the proposal is being discussed,” Levitt said around 1:23 p.m. ET.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the president or the national security team. I reiterate that the lines that the president cannot cross regarding Iran are very clear to the American people as well as the public.”
Mr. Levitt quickly added that Mr. Trump and his team were not saying they were “considering” the proposal.
“Let me just say that there was a discussion this morning that I don’t want to get ahead of. I think we’ll be hearing directly from the president on this very soon,” she said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to pour cold water on Iran’s proposal to clear the strategically important strait in a Fox News interview early Monday.
Asked Saturday about President Trump’s claim that Iran had sent him a “much better” offer, Rubio said, “What I mean by open straits is, “As long as we work with Iran and get our permission, the straits are open.”
“This is not the opening of the strait. It’s an international waterway. We cannot normalize a system where Iranians decide who can use international waterways and how much they have to pay, and we cannot tolerate them trying to normalize it,” Rubio said.
The Trump administration has repeatedly asserted that the central goal of the conflict is to ensure that Iran never again acquires nuclear weapons.
“If you were given a nuclear weapon, everything would pale in comparison,” Trump told reporters at the White House Saturday night after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
But efforts to reach a diplomatic solution appeared to suddenly come to a standstill over the weekend.
A young boy stands on a giant Iranian flag and raises his fist along with others killed in the US and Israeli attack on Iran during the funeral of Alireza Tansiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy, in Tehran’s Enhrab Square on April 1, 2026.
– | AFP | Getty Images
President Trump on Saturday canceled plans for his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with their Iranian counterparts in Pakistan. “Wasted time traveling and too much work!” He claimed in a post on Truth Social that the US still holds “all the cards.”
According to Reuters, President Trump announced the decision after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Islamabad after meeting exclusively with Pakistani officials.
After posting on social media, President Trump told reporters that Iran had followed up with a “much better” offer, but did not say what it was.
“They gave us a paper that was supposed to be better, and interestingly, as soon as I canceled it, within 10 minutes, we received a new paper that was much better,” Trump said Saturday before boarding Air Force One, Bloomberg reported.
With this cancellation, any prospects for second peace negotiations with Iran have disappeared for the time being. Two weeks ago, Mr. Kushner, Mr. Witkoff and Vice President J.D. Vance traveled to Islamabad and spent 21 hours negotiating with Iran, but left the country without a deal.
Vance was not included in the latest travel plans.
The ceasefire between the United States and Iran remains in effect after President Trump unilaterally extended it last week. However, the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as a key battleground, and the two countries, currently under a ceasefire, have continued to compete for superiority over each other.
The strait is a vital shipping route that carries 20% of the world’s oil in peacetime, and is Iran’s main source of influence in the ongoing conflict. Tehran effectively closed the shipping route by force, allowing only a fraction of the pre-war shipping traffic to pass through. The de facto closure is Crude oil prices have soaredleading to higher prices for gasoline and other products in the United States and around the world.
President Trump responded by blockading Iranian ports in the region. U.S. Central Command said Sunday night that at least 38 ships had been stopped or turned around.
This is developing news. Please check back for the latest information.
