US and Iran Hold Separate Mediator Talks as Ceasefire Push Revives

US and Iranian officials held separate discussions with mediators on Monday, in a renewed push to end a war that has now run for seven months, according to officials from both countries.

Further talks are expected to centre on an amended version of a seven-day proposal Iran put forward last week on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, an official briefed on the negotiations said.

The conflict began in late February with US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Over seven months it has killed thousands of people and unsettled global markets, with key oil-carrying waterways left choked. Two earlier ceasefires, mediated in April and June, collapsed soon after they were reached.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stayed on in New York after the General Assembly and said Tehran expected to receive Washington's response to its latest ceasefire proposals, along with its conditions for restoring maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

"If the Americans claim they are seeking an agreement or a peaceful solution, we have presented that solution," Araqchi said.

US officials also spoke with mediators on Monday, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House, without elaborating.

Iran's seven-day plan calls for an end to all hostilities in Iran and Lebanon, the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets, the removal of sanctions on Iranian oil and the lifting of the US blockade on Iranian ports. Under the proposal, Iran would then permit the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, and the two sides would resume talks on Iran's nuclear programme and Trump's stated aim of seizing or eliminating its highly enriched uranium.

Trump said on Saturday that he had turned down the Iranian proposal, arguing Tehran was seeking a quick deal because of the severe economic pressure it faces. He nonetheless told Axios on Sunday that he expected US negotiators to take part in further talks this week.

Araqchi said on Sunday that mediators had not formally conveyed any US rejection, and that Iran was waiting for Washington's definitive position before deciding its next move.

"Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met," he said, adding that only a negotiated settlement could break the impasse.