Mohan Sinha
03 Oct 2026

BAGHDAD/DUBAI: Iran said on September 30 that it had received a U.S. response to its latest proposal to revive a collapsed ceasefire in the Middle East, as diplomatic efforts continued despite President Donald Trump's earlier rejection of the plan.

The development came as the United States completed the withdrawal of its remaining troops from Iraq. Iran and its allied armed groups welcomed the move, which ended a major U.S. military presence in the country.

Tehran has described the withdrawal as an important development for its allied armed groups and part of its broader effort to reduce the U.S. military presence in the region.

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has now entered its eighth month. Last week, Iran proposed a seven-day process under which Washington would lift its blockade of Iranian ports, and Tehran would begin reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said over the weekend that he had rejected the proposal. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, however, said Tehran had not received a formal rejection at that time. On September 30, an Iranian government spokesperson said Araqchi had received a U.S. response and passed it to the Iranian government.

Iran has said its proposal aims to restore an interim agreement that collapsed weeks after it was reached by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in June.

Qatari mediators have been holding indirect discussions between Washington and Tehran. Last week, they met U.S. and Iranian representatives in New York during the United Nations General Assembly, marking the first proximity talks between the two sides since the earlier ceasefire broke down.

A non-Iranian official briefed on the discussions told Reuters that Qatari mediators had informed Araqchi about the U.S. response on September 29, when he stopped in Doha while returning from New York.

The official said the two sides broadly agreed on the steps needed for an agreement but remained divided over the order in which those steps should happen.

The Strait of Hormuz remains a central issue in the discussions. Iran wants an eventual agreement that would preserve its control over the strategic waterway, which is one of the world's most important routes for oil shipments.

Shipping through the strait has increased in recent weeks, although carriers have been charging higher fees because of the risks involved. The movement of crude oil, refined fuel and natural gas remains heavily disrupted.

Britain's UK Maritime Trade Operations organization said on September 30 that two ships had been hit by projectiles the previous day, highlighting the continuing risks to vessels in the area.

At the same time, U.S. and Iraqi officials announced the departure of the last American troops from Iraq. The withdrawal followed a plan agreed in 2024 under former President Joe Biden and completed by the Trump administration while the United States is fighting Iran next door.

Iran and its allied groups welcomed the end of the U.S. military presence. Abu Mojtaba al-Yasiri, a commander in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, described the withdrawal as an "historic victory for the Iraqi Islamic resistance groups and honorable Iraqis, and a crushing defeat for the American project."