Trump: Iran wants to reopen Hormuz immediately but the offer is not acceptable
President says 29 ships transited Hormuz last night, declares the US has full control of the strait, and confirms Iran wants a deal immediately but that the current proposal falls short of what Washington will accept
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - President Donald Trump declared on Saturday that the United States has achieved full control of the Strait of Hormuz, that 29 ships transited the waterway the previous night, that Iran wants to reopen the strait immediately because it is suffering devastating losses without oil revenues, and that while Iran wants a deal and he likes making deals, the current Iranian proposal is not acceptable.
"We will achieve a great victory and take full control of the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said.
Enormous quantities of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz and 29 ships passed through it last night.
On Iran's motivations for seeking a deal, Trump was direct. "Iran wants to immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz because it has suffered heavy losses," he said. "Iran wants a deal and I also like making deals, but this offer is not acceptable. Iran is suffering losses because it is not receiving money and its source of income comes from the Strait of Hormuz."
Trump framed the current situation as a strategic trap that Iran set for itself. "Iran trapped itself by closing the Strait of Hormuz and we imposed the largest blockade in military history on it," he said. "We built a steel wall around the Strait of Hormuz and Iran no longer has money because of its closure."
Trump's declaration that the current Iranian offer is not acceptable directly addresses the proposal that Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi delivered to US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in indirect talks on the UNGA sidelines on September 22, 2026, in which Iran proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resuming nuclear talks within a week in exchange for the US lifting its naval blockade, removing sanctions on oil sales, and reinstating a ceasefire across the region. The US negotiators had already told Araghchi during those talks that Iran does not control the strait and therefore cannot make demands about it.
Trump's claim that 29 ships transited Hormuz the previous night is consistent with the broader picture of partial Hormuz recovery documented by satellite imagery analysis from TankerTrackers.com on September 14, which confirmed bi-directional daytime VLCC supertanker traffic through the strait for the first time since the war began. CENTCOM had separately confirmed on September 12 that zero ships had passed the blockade without US authorization in 60 days.
Trump's assertion that the US has imposed the largest blockade in military history and built a steel wall around the strait, combined with his statement that Iran no longer has money because of its closure, aligns with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's September 11 disclosure that Iranian oil exports through Hormuz have reached zero, that $140 billion in oil has moved safely under American escort in two weeks, and that the US is targeting 85 percent of Iran's tankers.
The combination of Trump's rejection of the current Iranian offer and his acknowledgment that Iran wants a deal immediately places the negotiation in a specific phase: Tehran has made a concrete proposal, Washington has found it unacceptable, and the question is now whether Iran will modify its terms or whether the economic pressure of continued zero oil revenues will eventually force it to accept a settlement closer to Washington's conditions.