Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left New York on Tuesday after telling IRIB he expected an official US response to Iran’s proposal by the end of the day. Of his meetings with the Qatari mediators he said: "We talked about ideas and how to find solutions to fulfil Iran’s conditions." He repeated that despite the President’s public rejection, nothing formal had reached Iran through the mediators, and he narrowed the frame: for now the talks concern only the strait, and Iran will not move to wider negotiations until it has used its control of the waterway to secure its demands. This tracker has not seen the formal response delivered at the time of writing.

[CNBC] [Al Jazeera]

A US official told Al Jazeera the indirect talks were positive and constructive, that there would be no agreement unless Iran’s nuclear programme is addressed, and that Trump is willing to relieve sanctions and release Iran’s frozen funds in exchange for nuclear progress. AP reported the same from its own US sources, adding that Iran has signalled flexibility on the nuclear file but that the two sides are far apart on timing and on who moves first. Washington is seeking concessions that include admitting inspectors — the commitment Pezeshkian made on television on Day 212 — and remains sceptical Iran would keep its word after it broke the June memorandum by firing on ships in the strait.

[Al Jazeera] [AP]

Trump denied an Axios report that he was willing to grant sanctions relief and access to frozen funds, saying he had offered Iran nothing, and told reporters at the White House only that US officials had spoken separately with the mediators. The administration’s private and public positions are now openly different: officials describe a trade of relief for nuclear progress; the President describes no offer at all. This tracker records both and treats the official accounts, which come from several outlets, as the working description of the US position.

[CBS] [CNBC]

Sources briefed on the talks told The National that Iran may have softened its position on two key issues — reopening the strait and its nuclear programme — in exchange for a relaxation of the blockade and the release of frozen funds, and described the New York contacts as a prelude to fully fledged negotiations. AP reported that Araghchi told a closed-door meeting during UN week that Tehran had pitched the deal as benefiting Trump in the midterm elections. Al Jazeera reported analysts judging a deal unlikely before those elections.

[The National] [AP] [Al Jazeera]

Middle East crude exports climbed to their highest level since the war began, CNBC reported, a day after Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline resumed exports through the Red Sea. The strait itself remains closed by Iranian declaration; the recovery is flowing around it.

[CNBC]

Tracker status holds at WAR RESUMED. Day 214 narrows the gap to its core. Both sides now describe the same trade — sanctions relief and frozen funds for Iranian steps on the strait and the nuclear file — and disagree on its order. The formal American answer Araghchi expected by nightfall is the next event; the President’s public position is that there is nothing in it. No ceasefire is in force.