Witkoff: US-Iran Talks Show Promise as Tehran Sets Hormuz Conditions

By Staff, Agencies

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said the US and Iran completed “constructive and promising” indirect talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, with mediators shuttling between the two delegations.

Witkoff said the discussions were successfully concluded and that mediators would continue their efforts.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a three-hour meeting with Witkoff and US Middle East envoy Jared Kushner, mediated by Qatar. US President Donald Trump later described the meeting as “very good.”

During the talks, Araghchi conveyed Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an immediate end to the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and an end to the war across all Resistance fronts, according to Iranian state media.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New York to attend the General Assembly and is scheduled to address it Wednesday.

Before departing Tehran, Pezeshkian said Iran would use the UN platform to highlight the “plight of the Iranian nation,” the “crimes” and distrust created by the war, while seeking ways to resolve the conflict.

The US has denied visas to members of Pezeshkian’s accompanying media team and imposed restrictions on the Iranian delegation’s movement.

US-Iranian contacts have continued intermittently since the first Oman-mediated Witkoff-Araghchi talks in April 2025, with negotiations continuing until the outbreak of war in February and a subsequent interim ceasefire agreement reached in June.