US open to meeting Iran at UN as conflicting reports over peace deal swirl

Conflicting reports emerged from Tehran on Tuesday over whether Iran had privately offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, as unnamed Iranian officials told Reuters and Japan's Kyodo news agency that the proposal had been conveyed to Washington through mediators — a claim Iranian state-affiliated media quickly denied.

According to Kyodo, the proposal aims to achieve a permanent end to the war between the two countries.

Kyodo’s report said Iran would welcome a revival of diplomacy with the US if Washington also takes steps towards peace, citing the same unnamed sources.

Iranian semi-official Fars news agency denied the reports within hours, calling them unreliable and inaccurate, and citing its own Iranian sources. Fars also claimed the reports aim to lower oil prices.

This is not the first time Tehran has sent conflicting signals about a potential agreement.

In June 2025, US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran and Israel on his Truth Social platform before Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi publicly denied any deal had been reached.

In June of this year Trump said terms for ending the war had been "approved in writing" before Iranian state media published what he called "fabricated terms" in competing announcements that has repeatedly complicated diplomatic progress.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told US media on Tuesday morning that the US is open to a meeting with Iran at the UN General Assembly.

“I don’t think anything is scheduled at this point, but we’re certainly open to something like that, especially if it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately achieving the goal of what this is all about,” Rubio told NBC News.

“And that is the fact that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. They just simply can’t,” Rubio added.

Pezeshkian lauds 'dignity and pride'

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday vowed to "firmly defend" his country's positions, as he departed for New York to attend the UN General Assembly.

"We emerged with our heads held high, and this is a source of dignity and pride for all of us. Therefore, we will firmly defend our positions in international forums," he said before flying out of Iran, according to footage broadcast by state television.

The president is due to speak at the UN meeting on Wednesday.

"We will make the best possible use of this opportunity to convey Iran's plight to the international community. We will firmly tell our adversaries that, despite all the unfairness and injustices, the Iranian people have stood their ground," he said.

Pezeshkian will be the highest-ranking Iranian official to set foot on US soil since the start of the war, which began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz remains central to negotiations to end the war.

Traffic in the vital maritime corridor, through which one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG passed before the war, has been severely disrupted, with Iran firing on commercial ships and demanding that they approve passage.

In response, the US is maintaining a counterblockade of Iranian ports while upping economic pressure on Tehran.

"We will not back down on the strait, and as long as the United States and other countries do not halt their actions, they will face expensive gasoline and oil, along with ongoing energy problems," Iranian Parliament Vice Speaker Ali Nikzad said on Tuesday.