Iran Offers to Reopen Hormuz Within Seven Days — and Oil Dives Below $100
The war’s biggest de-escalation signal yet: a senior Iranian official said Tehran can reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if America eases military pressure and lifts the blockade of Iranian ports — “announce that it wants to resolve the issue diplomatically… and then agree on a timeline”. Brent dipped below $99 at one point, a two-week low; Marco Rubio said Washington is “certainly open” to talks with Iran’s UN delegation — “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon” — though no meeting is scheduled.
Two days after Tehran’s military threatened retaliation “without limitations”, its diplomats offered a seven-day reopening — the pivot that tells you the blockade is working and the UN week is the chosen off-ramp: an economy at 90% inflation, exports at a twentieth of pre-war volumes and a rial at record lows cannot fund defiance indefinitely, and the offer converts Iran’s one remaining asset, the closed strait, into its opening bid. The sequencing with the presidential ultimatum is almost certainly not coincidence but negotiation conducted in public, each side establishing its price before any room is shared. The oil market’s verdict — instantly below $100 — shows how much premium hangs on this single channel. Watch for an official Iranian confirmation or denial, and any quiet US-Iran contact in New York this week.