EASTORA REPORT | Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi paired a peace offer with a stark threat. Washington could accept Tehran’s conditions for ending the conflict, he said, or face renewed fighting. “Or choose war, and see our alert and battle-hardened Warriors rain down hell,” he wrote.
He delivered the warning on Sunday, November 8, after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections. “American voters have made their choice,” he wrote on X, turning the result into a challenge to Donald Trump: now the White House must choose.
The offer was not new. Tehran says it can reopen the strategic waterway within two days if Washington accepts a package of demands. These include ending fighting on all fronts, lifting the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, easing oil sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian funds. A previous version of the plan allowed seven days for implementation.
The two days describe how quickly Iran says it could act after an agreement, not a deadline for Trump to answer. Qatar has been carrying messages between the two sides, but the latest talks have produced no deal.
On the same day, Trump told CNN renewed attacks were “highly unlikely” if negotiations produced a strong agreement. He also said U.S. forces had identified Iranian infrastructure targets, including 38 bridges that could be destroyed quickly. He said he would prefer not to hit them.
The threats sit alongside a costly stalemate. Iran has restricted traffic through Hormuz, a vital route for oil exports, while the United States has imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports. The resulting disruption has extended the war’s impact well beyond the battlefield.
Araghchi said mediators had stopped travelling since the U.S. election, suggesting that political uncertainty was delaying the process. Washington has not publicly accepted Tehran’s conditions, and the two governments have not announced an agreement to end the conflict.
Araghchi’s message left little room for ambiguity about Iran’s response to renewed strikes. What remains uncertain is whether either side can accept the other’s terms without returning to the fighting both say the