Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday that it has put a seven-point proposal to the United States and has heard back the American side's views, according to Sky TG24. Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said opinions were exchanged and that Tehran's offer on the diplomatic track remains open, adding that Iran has stated its demands plainly and that Washington must now decide how to respond.
The remarks came as US President Donald Trump told supporters at a rally in Iowa that his only reason for not yet settling accounts with Iran was a wish to be kind and to try to save lives, but that at some point there would have to be a hard strike. Sky TG24 reported that Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend about possible new military action against Iran.
Why it matters
The exchange of positions is the first public sign in the current cycle that Washington and Tehran are talking through a structured proposal rather than only through threats. Both sides are describing the same channel in different terms: Iran frames the seven-point plan as a standing offer awaiting an American answer, while the US president publicly keeps military pressure in view. That combination leaves the diplomatic track alive but fragile, and it means the next signal from either capital will be read as a decision about war or talks.
Oil markets and shipping have a direct stake. Iran has linked the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to its conditions being met, a demand reported by ANSA, Il Sole 24 ORE and Treccani. The strait is the passage through which a large share of the region's crude normally moves, so any hint that it could open or close within days carries weight well beyond the negotiating room.
Trump says he is not rushing, and Israel is pressing
According to Sky TG24, Trump told the Iowa crowd that he wanted to try to preserve lives but that a hard blow would come at some stage. The same report said Netanyahu urged him to act against Tehran soon after the US midterm elections on 3 November, and that the president appeared to hold back, saying Tehran wants an agreement, that Washington would see what it amounts to, and that there is no hurry.
The sequencing matters. Trump's public remarks place any decision after the midterms, while the Israeli request as described by Sky TG24 would put it immediately after them. No date has been set and no decision has been announced.
Inside Iran, President Masoud Pezeshkian said the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had granted the government certain powers over the peace talks with Washington, according to Iranian state media and Iran International as cited in the reporting. That grant gives the negotiating team room to move, though its exact scope has not been made public.
Hormuz, Hodeidah and Gaza
Iran's position on the Strait of Hormuz was reported across several outlets: the waterway would reopen within two days if Washington accepts Tehran's demands, according to ANSA, Il Sole 24 ORE and Treccani. The conditionality is the point. Reopening is presented not as a technical matter but as a deliverable tied to the seven-point proposal, which is why the two stories are being read together.
Elsewhere in the region, the Houthis in Yemen said Saudi strikes hit a major Red Sea port and an oil facility in Hodeidah province, injuring seven people. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, condemned what she described as continued Houthi military escalation and attacks on Saudi Arabia, particularly those hitting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and expressed solidarity with the Yemeni government, the kingdom and its people.
In Gaza, at least three people were killed and four wounded in drone strikes launched by Israel in the central and southern parts of the strip, according to Al Jazeera citing hospital sources. In the occupied West Bank, clashes broke out in the north between violent settlers and Israeli police after officers began clearing the illegal outpost of Givat Ora Israel near Hawara; footage circulated by settlement activist groups showed bulldozers demolishing two prefabricated structures while activists barricaded themselves on the roof of one, and activists blocked roads and burned tyres at several junctions.
Russia warns, China backs Tehran
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said signals about plans for new military action against Iran are a source of extreme concern, describing the conflict as unresolved and entangled with other crises in the region. Moscow believes diplomatic efforts to normalise the situation need to be stepped up, she said.
China, for its part, assured Iran of support "in defending its sovereignty," according to AGI. The phrasing stops short of any commitment beyond that, but it adds a second major power to the list of capitals publicly positioning themselves around the standoff.
Israeli politics runs in parallel
Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, will open consultations with the parties elected to the 26th Knesset on Wednesday 4 November at 17:00 local time, 16:00 in Italy, with the sessions streamed on the presidency's official channels. His office said the round will begin with the smallest factions rather than the largest, starting with Religious Zionism and Zehut, a change intended to allow a broad review of all options before meetings with the bigger parties and to encourage fresh ideas.
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beytenu, said his party will recommend Yashar's Gadi Eisenkot for the mandate to form a government and will back Yair Lapid, number two in B'Yachad, for speaker of the Knesset. Asked how an opposition led by Eisenkot could govern without support from Arab or Haredi parties, Lieberman said there might be defectors from Likud, adding that the bloc must take control of the Knesset and that replacing the speaker is essential. The leaders of the Arab parties Hadash-Ta'al and Ra'am met for the first time since the election, saying they aimed to strengthen coordination and examine political cooperation ahead of the coming period.
What to watch
Watch for an American reply to the seven-point proposal and for any confirmation of Trump's post-midterm timetable, since those two signals will determine whether the Hormuz offer is tested or shelved.
