# Trump Rejects Iran's Hormuz Offer as Tehran Keeps Striking Ships in the Strait

Washington sanctioned Iran's largest carmakers and rail operators, Tehran asked Baghdad to lift a flight ban imposed under United States pressure, and President Trump warned Iran would be hit "very hard" if it is found to be linked to the attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight to Israel.

- Published: 2026-10-02T05:34:40.978Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-10-02/trump-rejects-iran-s-hormuz-offer-as-tehran-keeps-striking-s
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: geopolitics
- Sources: [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2034154/trump-calls-irans-hormuz-offer-not-enough), [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/world/middleeast/iran-strait-hormuz-attacks-oil.html), [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/2/iran-urges-iraq-to-lift-flight-ban-amid-us-sanctions), [Globes](https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001558300#utm_source=RSS)

President Donald Trump described Iran's proposal on the Strait of Hormuz as "not enough" and warned that strikes on Iranian targets could resume after the United States midterm elections, [according to Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2034154/trump-calls-irans-hormuz-offer-not-enough). Washington simultaneously sanctioned Iran's largest carmakers and its rail operators. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country remains open to dialogue. President Vladimir Putin of Russia said he hopes the strait reopens fully and repeated that Moscow's offer to take custody of Iranian enriched uranium still stands.

Trump added a sharper, more immediate warning on Thursday, tied not to the Hormuz talks but to this week's attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight bound for Israel. Asked whether Iran was involved in the cockpit attack, Trump told reporters "based on what I'm hearing, the answer is yes, but we're working on it right now," and said Iran would "be hit very hard" if a link is confirmed, [according to Euronews](https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/02/trump-vows-to-hit-iran-very-hard-if-linked-to-flydubai-pilot-stabbing-attack). He did not explain the basis for his suspicion, and no investigating authority, including the United Arab Emirates-led inquiry, has published findings connecting Iran to the attack.

Traffic through the waterway has recovered, but it is not safe. The New York Times [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/world/middleeast/iran-strait-hormuz-attacks-oil.html), citing a Western security official, that Iran has launched drones and missiles at commercial ships in the strait every week, often without hitting its targets. Partial, repeated and imprecise attacks keep war-risk insurance elevated even when cargo volumes return, a cost shipowners are now building into their planning.

The pressure campaign reaches Iran's neighbours. Al Jazeera [reported](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/2/iran-urges-iraq-to-lift-flight-ban-amid-us-sanctions) that Tehran has urged Baghdad to remove flight restrictions imposed after United States sanctions, a demand that has strained relations between the two governments. Iraq's position illustrates the choice facing states with deep commercial ties to Iran and dependence on access to the dollar system.

Gulf energy infrastructure is being reinforced in case of renewed strikes. The Israeli business daily Globes [reported](https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001558300#utm_source=RSS) that the United States has sent additional Patriot air-defence batteries to protect energy facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and that the leaders of both countries persuaded Trump not to strike in August, arguing instead for economic pressure. That argument is now being tested from two directions at once: the economic pressure has not produced the terms Washington says it wants, and Trump's warning over the flydubai incident shows how quickly an unrelated event can revive the case for military action.

## What this means

Two mechanisms run in parallel. Sanctions on Iranian industry and the Iraqi flight ban reduce Tehran's revenue and transit income, while weekly attacks on shipping impose a cost on everyone who uses the strait through insurance premiums and longer routings, a cost paid by importers in Asia and Europe rather than by the United States. Gulf producers want the pressure track precisely because strikes would put their own export terminals at risk, and the arrival of more Patriot batteries shows Washington is preparing for the possibility they lose that argument. The likelier path over the next three to six months is continued attritional pressure with periodic talks and no settlement, keeping a floating risk premium in crude and in Gulf freight rates. A verifiable Iranian halt to attacks on shipping, or a uranium transfer to Russia actually taking place, would mark a genuine turn away from that path.

## What to watch

- War-risk insurance quotes for voyages through Hormuz, which measure whether shipowners believe the attacks will continue regardless of diplomatic signals.
- Whether Iraq lifts the flight restrictions, a test of how far Washington's sanctions reach into states that depend on both Tehran and the dollar.
- Any movement on Russia's offer to take Iranian enriched uranium, which would make Moscow the broker of the nuclear file and reduce Washington's leverage.