US and Iranian representatives held talks on Tuesday, September 22, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Donald Trump said, hours after he urged other countries to isolate Tehran economically. Trump said the meeting lasted about three hours and described it as productive, but gave few details of any progress toward ending the nearly seven-month war.
In his address to world leaders earlier that day, Trump defended the US decision to launch the war and called for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He said he faced a choice between a negotiated agreement and a further military assault on the Islamic Republic. The Associated Press reported that most members of Iran’s delegation left the General Assembly chamber during his remarks.
Iranian state media said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met US envoy Steve Witkoff and presented Tehran’s conditions for reopening the strait, according to Reuters. Those conditions included lifting the US naval blockade, releasing frozen Iranian assets and ending the war across the fronts involving Iran and its allies. The account describes Iran’s demands; it does not establish that Washington accepted them.
Earlier on Tuesday, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that shipping through Hormuz could resume within seven days if the United States eased military pressure and lifted its blockade of Iranian ports. The official said the UN gathering offered a chance to revive diplomacy. Trump, meanwhile, told reporters that his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had taken part in contacts with Iran, according to the Associated Press.
The waterway was a route for about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the conflict, Reuters reported. Disruption there has pushed up energy costs and increased pressure on Gulf governments and major importers. Trump also met leaders and senior officials from Gulf states and Jordan on Tuesday to discuss the war, the Associated Press reported.
The talks mark a new diplomatic contact, but neither side announced a ceasefire, an agreement on Hormuz or a timetable for further negotiations. Whether the meeting leads to a broader settlement will depend on how Washington and Tehran address their opposing demands over shipping, the blockade and the wider conflict.
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