Iran Guards say two tankers hit naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, with no independent confirmation, and Tehran says its seven day reopening offer still stands

Two more ships are claimed as casualties of the strait, and the word claimed matters. Iran Revolutionary Guards Navy said on Saturday that two oil tankers struck naval mines and caught fire while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, IRNA reported. State media said the vessels were carrying about two million barrels of crude oil each, that they had switched off their positioning and radar systems, and that they had attempted a route through the waterway that Iran had not authorized. The second vessel was left immobilized after striking a mine, IRNA said. Reuters reported plainly that there was no independent confirmation of the reports, and no shipping authority had verified the incidents as of October 18.

The claim does not arrive in a calm week. Maritime officials said on Wednesday that a container ship and a dry bulk carrier sank near the strait after being hit by projectiles in separate incidents. Attacks around the waterway have surged over the past two weeks, with Iran saying it is stepping up strikes in answer to the American blockade of its ports and the tougher sanctions imposed last month. Before the war, the strait carried about a fifth of the world trade in oil and liquefied natural gas. Brent crude settled at 109.86 dollars a barrel on Friday, up 3.7 percent on the day, as of October 16.

On Sunday the diplomatic track moved in public. Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in Baghdad for a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, said the Iranian proposal presented in mid September, after an interim ceasefire collapsed, is still on the table. Our situation is clear and based on the seven days proposal presented to the United States, he said. They shared comments which we are reviewing, but our proposal is still on the table, and if there is any honesty on the American part, which there is not, the way to reopening the Strait of Hormuz is obvious. If Washington accepts the conditions, he said, the strait could reopen within six days, with talks resuming the following day.

The conditions explain the stall. Tehran wants the American blockade of its ports lifted, sanctions on its oil exports lifted, and hostilities ended on all regional fronts, before or alongside any reopening. Washington wants Iran nuclear program addressed from the outset, and Vice President JD Vance said earlier this month that Iran must make a meaningful reduction in its uranium enrichment capacity to end the eight month war. Tehran says the talks should begin with reopening the strait and restoring security in it. So the position on Sunday is this: two tankers claimed mined and unverified, a waterway carrying a fraction of its normal trade, and an offer to reopen it in a week that has been sitting unanswered, on stated terms neither side has moved from.