Abbas Araghchi

Leading the Oman corridor and diplomatic track

Iran's parliament is one step from passing a law that would give Tehran sole authority over the Strait of Hormuz. The national security committee cleared the bill's final article on October 4, and Iran's security chief has since called the US-assisted oil shuttle out of the Gulf an explicit target.

Updated Yesterday

Said there is no military solution to the war; waiting on a definitive US response through Pakistan, Qatar, and Oman after Trump rejected Tehran's proposal

Iranian forces kept striking tankers through October, with at least 12 ships hit in the week ending Oct 5 and near-daily attacks after that. US Central Command cleared mines from the main shipping lanes on Oct 9 and declared them open to vessels not violating sanctions.

Updated Yesterday

Said Iran is still reviewing Washington's response to the latest US proposal

US forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Sept. 9 after weeks of shipping attacks. Iran answered the same day, attacking 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz and firing about 20 missiles at the US base in Jordan.

Updated 4 days ago

Awaiting a formal US response to Iran's seven-day plan after Trump publicly rejected it; insists the plan's conditions were agreed in the June MOU.

Ship crossings through the Strait of Hormuz fell to their lowest in more than two months as tanker attacks reached their highest weekly level since the war began. Kpler counted seven commodity vessels on Tuesday, down from more than 20 on Sunday and Monday, and put crude flows at 10.1 million barrels a day, about 74 percent of the pre-war level.

Updated 5 days ago

Says Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until US demands are met

Three U.S. carrier strike groups deployed: USS Abraham Lincoln (Arabian Sea since January 2026), USS Gerald R. Ford (Mediterranean), and USS George H.W. Bush. This triple-carrier presence responded to Iran's crackdown on December 2025 protests.

Updated 7 days ago

Said Tehran is serious about diplomacy but prepared to defend itself; said October 4 the Strait could reopen within seven days if the US accepts Iran's plan

The US-Israeli campaign against Iran, launched February 28, is in its eighth month. President Trump said October 1 the war was "essentially almost over" and that Iran will not get nuclear weapons. Washington and Tehran are trading written proposals through intermediaries: Iran presented a seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and Tehran said October 4 it was reviewing the US reply.

Updated 7 days ago

Left New York September 29; received US response via Qatar; presented to Pezeshkian

Iran's president and foreign minister attended the UN General Assembly in late September. The visit produced a new round of indirect talks with the US through Qatari mediators, focused on Iran's offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days.

Updated Oct 5

Says Iran will not reopen the strait until the US meets demands; Iran-Oman bilateral transit deal nearing finalization but depends on US conditions

The September 14 postponement of Iran-Gulf talks on a temporary Hormuz shipping route pushed Brent above $108 a barrel. Saudi Arabia then cancelled September-loading crude cargoes to European buyers and suspended loadings at the Red Sea port of Yanbu, after a September 11 drone attack shut the East-West pipeline that bypasses the strait. Buyers and traders say Saudi could exhaust its exportable crude within days; Goldman Sachs puts repair time at 'very soon' to eight weeks.

Updated Sep 16

Pushing for Saudi-Houthi talks; Iran confirms Oman meeting on Hormuz shipping

Ship crossings through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait fell to 15 on Friday, half the previous day's total. Houthi rebels seized Perim Island that day, completing their takeover of the strait that carries 10 to 12 percent of global trade.

Updated Sep 12

Leading Iran's diplomatic response; accused US of striking civilian infrastructure

The US-Israeli war on Iran began February 28 and displaced up to 3.2 million people inside the country in two weeks, per the UN refugee agency.

Updated Sep 4

Says Tehran has not decided to resume talks with the US, and that the Iran-Oman Hormuz route deal is separate from fully reopening the strait

The 60-day ceasefire window set by the June memorandum expired August 17 with no extension. A White House official called the talks 'static,' and Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has not decided to resume negotiations with Washington. Trump responded by confirming a secret US backchannel to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and threatening to bomb Oman if it interferes with US efforts in the strait.

Updated Aug 17

Leading Iran's diplomatic response

For five months, the 2026 Iran war stayed in the south — the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf. On July 25, Ukrainian drones struck cargo ships more than 1,000 miles north, in the Caspian Sea.

Updated Jul 26

Iran signed the Islamabad MOU June 17; declared Hormuz re-closed June 20 citing Israeli Lebanon strikes; pulled Iran from nuclear talks in Switzerland on June 19 over the Lebanon fighting

The US, Israel, and Lebanon signed a 14-point Trilateral Framework Agreement in Washington on June 26. It ties Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon to Hezbollah disarmament — Lebanon's army must first deploy to pilot zones, clear Hezbollah out, and pass a US-led assessment. Washington pledged $100 million in aid.

Updated Jul 4

Leading diplomatic effort to condemn strikes near Bushehr

A projectile struck 350 meters from Iran's only operating nuclear reactor on April 4, killing a security guard and damaging an auxiliary building. It was the fourth time ordnance has landed on or near the Bushehr nuclear power plant since the United States and Israel began striking Iran on February 28.

Updated May 30

Rejecting ceasefire talks while offering to dilute enriched uranium

Iran's nuclear infrastructure has become the primary target of an intensifying US-Israeli air campaign that began February 28 and has now entered its sixth week. The Natanz uranium enrichment complex has been struck four times. On April 4, 2026, US and Israeli forces expanded the campaign to strike the Bushehr nuclear power plant and the Mahshahr petrochemical hub in southwestern Iran. The strikes killed at least one security guard and wounded five workers. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned that strikes on civilian nuclear power plants cross 'the reddest line' of nuclear safety, raising the risk of a radiological catastrophe. Meanwhile, Iran has demonstrated growing military capability: on April 4, Iranian air defenses downed two US warplanes, marking the first confirmed loss of American aircraft in the conflict.

Updated May 30

Serving as foreign minister during the 2026 Iran war

For nearly a decade, Iran insisted it had deliberately capped its ballistic missile range at 2,000 kilometers—enough to hit Israel and American bases in the Middle East but not Europe. On March 21, 2026, Iran fired two missiles 4,000 kilometers at Diego Garcia, a US-UK military base; one failed in flight, another was intercepted by a warship, yet Iran proved its range was double its former claim.

Updated May 30

Serving as Iran's chief diplomatic voice during the conflict

Since February 28, the US-Iran war has expanded to include critical water infrastructure. On March 8, Iran struck a Bahrain desalination plant.

Updated May 30

Met Putin in St. Petersburg on April 27-28; continuing as Tehran's senior diplomatic voice in Oman-mediated talks; Iranian Foreign Ministry under his direction said on May 11 that US demands are unreasonable

The Iran-US war reached its 73rd day with talks at a deadlock. Trump called Iran's May 10 response 'garbage' and declared the ceasefire on 'massive life support'.

Updated May 30

Leading Iran's delegation in nuclear talks with the US

In June 2025, Israeli and American strikes destroyed roughly a third of Iran's air defenses in twelve days; leaked Russian documents show Tehran has since spent billions to replace and expand what it lost. The secret €500 million agreement includes 500 Verba shoulder‑fired launchers and 2,500 missiles, long‑range S‑400 batteries, and up to 48 Su‑35 fighter jets; the first 16 airframes are in production for Iran. This mix of advanced and widely dispersed man‑portable air‑defense systems is designed to make any future U.S. or Israeli air campaign far more complex and costly.

Updated May 29

Co-led Iranian delegation at failed Islamabad talks April 11–12; claimed Iran was 'inches away' from a deal before US 'shifted the goalposts'; announced Iran's withdrawal from second round of Islamabad talks on April 20 following US seizure of the Touska

On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion—coordinated airstrikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure, nuclear facilities, and senior leadership. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the strikes; his son Mojtaba was elected as the new Supreme Leader on March 8 but hasn't appeared publicly, reportedly recovering from injuries sustained in the same strike. Iran retaliated by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint for 20 percent of world oil trade. Pakistan brokered a ceasefire on April 8, but Iran re-closed the Strait on April 18 after the United States refused to lift its naval blockade imposed following failed peace talks.

Updated May 29

Leading nuclear negotiations while defending Iran's red lines

Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington this week with a single message: any deal with Iran must go beyond uranium. After three hours in the Oval Office on February 11, President Trump emerged saying 'nothing definitive' was reached—but negotiations would continue.

Updated May 27

Condemned the EU designation

For over two decades, the European Union resisted designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, wary of severing diplomatic ties with Tehran. On January 29, 2026, that resistance collapsed. All 27 EU foreign ministers voted unanimously to place the IRGC on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Islamic State—a designation that triggers automatic asset freezes and travel bans across the bloc. Within hours, the United Kingdom signaled it would follow suit with separate legislation targeting hostile state agencies.

Updated May 23

Condemned EU's IRGC terrorist designation; stated no talks with Washington currently planned; regime faces unprecedented international isolation

Iran's nationwide uprising, triggered by December 28, 2025 bazaar marches in Tehran, was crushed in what may be the deadliest massacre in the Islamic Republic's history. An internet blackout that began January 8 was partially restored around January 17-18, though connectivity remains severely restricted. Early reports confirmed 572 deaths; after internet restoration in late January, the Human Rights Activists News Agency documented at least 6,126 deaths, with estimates ranging from 12,000 to over 36,500.

Updated May 20

Declared Iran ready for war or dialogue with U.S.

Iran's judiciary chief announced January 14 that detained protesters face fast-track trials and executions, despite Trump's warning of "very strong action." The death toll hit at least 2,571, per Human Rights Activists News Agency — four times the count from two days earlier and more than any crackdown since 1979.

Updated May 20

Visited Lebanon January 8, 2026 to discuss Hezbollah and bilateral relations

On January 8, 2026, Lebanon's military announced it had completed phase one of disarming Hezbollah and other militias south of the Litani River, bringing weapons under state control for the first time in 40 years. Over 9,000 soldiers swept the region devastated by the 2024 war (4,000 killed, 1.3 million displaced), clearing ordnance and tunnels. Hours later, Iran's foreign minister arrived for talks; the next day, Israel resumed strikes while occupying five hilltops—business as usual despite the milestone.

Updated May 19