U.S. awaits Iran’s answer after Hormuz clashes strain ceasefire

Proposes seeks from Islamic Republic reopening of waterway and U.S. end blockade on Iranian ports over next month

Author of the article:

Bloomberg News

Courtney Subramanian, Courtney McBride and Jen Judson

Published May 09, 2026  •  3 minute read

A bulk cargo ship sits at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, May 2, 2026. Photo by Amirhosein Khorgooi / ISNA /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The U.S. was waiting on Iran’s response to its latest proposal to end the war after suggesting word could come imminently, following clashes in the Strait of Hormuz that strained a monthlong ceasefire.

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Iran gave no public indication by late Saturday whether it would accept President Donald Trump’s plan, sent on Wednesday, which proposes that the Islamic Republic reopen the waterway and the U.S. end a blockade on Iranian ports over the next month.

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That’s after Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday he expected a response “tonight.” Asked if Iran was intentionally delaying the process, he said “we’ll find out soon enough.”

“We’ll go a different route if everything doesn’t get signed up, buttoned up,” Trump said. “We may go back to Project Freedom if things don’t happen,” he added, referring to the brief U.S. effort to break Iran’s maritime stranglehold and escort ships through the strait, “but it’ll be Project Freedom Plus, meaning Project Freedom plus other things.”

The one-page proposal implies Iran’s acceptance would end the 10-week war, which has killed thousands of people across the Middle East and sent energy prices soaring, even though the two sides would still need to negotiate a deal over Iran’s nuclear program.

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U.S. and Iranian forces clash near Strait of Hormuz. Photo by U.S. Department of Defense /Bloomberg

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei told the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Friday that Tehran’s response is “under review.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met Saturday, signaling that diplomacy remains active. Qatar has served as a regional mediator between the U.S. and Iran.

Rubio and Al Thani, who doubles as foreign minister, discussed U.S. support for Qatar’s defence as well as the importance of coordination to deter threats and promote stability and security across the Middle East, the State Department in Washington said in a statement. U..S Vice President JD Vance and Al Thani met separately on Friday.

Trump’s new focus reflects a change in his approach to ending the war — making the opening of the strait a higher priority than thorny negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. With fuel and oil prices elevated worldwide, the strait has become a more pressing issue than Iran’s enriched uranium.

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Brent crude, the global benchmark, edged higher on Friday to settle around $101 a barrel, but still notched a weekly drop of about 6%.

Trump faces intense domestic and international pressure to end the war, with Americans increasingly opposed to it and frustrated by soaring gasoline prices. China is among the powers amplifying calls for an immediate reopening of the strait and an end to hostilities, ahead of a scheduled summit between President Xi Jinping and Trump in Beijing next week.

Tensions worsened after clashes in the strait, with U.S. forces executing airstrikes on two empty Iranian oil tankers. They were trying to break the blockade and enter one of the country’s ports, U.S. Central Command said on Friday.

Iran said the action had violated the ceasefire agreement.

The skirmishes highlight “the confusion and inability of the ruling authorities in the United States to properly understand the situation and find a reasonable solution to exit their self-created impasse,” Iran’s foreign ministry posted on social media.

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Trump has threatened more intense strikes if Iran refuses his terms. Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically flows, after the war erupted with U.S. and Israeli strikes in late February.

Here’s more related to the war:

• Bahraini authorities arrest 41 members of an organization linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, state-run BNA reports, quoting the country’s interior ministry.

• Iran said it seized a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, which appeared to be a sanctioned vessel carrying the Islamic Republic’s own oil.

• The U.S. on Thursday targeted missile and drone launch sites in Iran that it said were responsible for attacking three American warships. No vessels were hit, according to a Centcom statement.

• The United Arab Emirates said Iran fired two ballistic missiles and three drones at it on Friday, causing three moderate injuries. The UAE was also targeted on Monday by Iran.

— With assistance from Jeff Mason, Catherine Lucey, Michelle Jamrisko, Derek Wallbank, Tony Czuczka and Se Young Lee.

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