Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Baghdad for the 52nd session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers on October 17 and 18, at which Iraq took over the council’s rotating presidency from Türkiye. Speaking on Saturday, he said Tehran had passed a concrete seven-day plan to Washington through Qatar. Under the plan, if the necessary conditions are met, the Strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days.
The remarks put a high-profile multilateral stage behind a proposal that has circulated through mediators for weeks. They also frame the diplomatic test facing the United States, Iran and the Gulf states as shipping disruption and a fragile ceasefire continue to weigh on regional security.
What Iran said in Baghdad
According to the Tehran Times, Araghchi told the ministers that the US has deepened distrust after two years of good-faith talks, making new talks impossible without credible guarantees. He closed the Hormuz passage of his address by saying, “The choice now rests with the United States.”
Xinhua, as carried by the Hans India, reported that Araghchi described Iran as “ready for dialogue based on mutual respect and credible guarantees” while saying it would not surrender its sovereign rights under pressure. He noted the waterway was open before the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
Araghchi also argued that security cannot return by repeating the same tactics. In remarks reported by Shafaq News, he said maritime security could not return to normal while military strikes, threats and blockades continued.
Background: the Islamabad MoU and the stalled shipping recovery
In the text of his speech published by Tasnim, Araghchi recalled that Iran and the United States signed the Islamabad MoU on 17 June through the good offices of Pakistan, with Qatar’s support. He said Iran then began technical discussions with Oman on safe vessel movement, and that within two weeks maritime traffic had recovered to approximately 60 percent of its pre-war level.
He blamed the later setback on Washington. According to the report from TokenPost, he attributed the disruption to U.S. and Israeli military actions and subsequent U.S. restrictions, saying those steps hindered implementation.
The memorandum itself was described in a Wikipedia summary as a 14-point framework agreement providing for an end to military strikes, toll-free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and a 60-day ceasefire extension. Washington’s position on the current Iranian proposal is less clear. Shafaq News reported that Tehran received Washington’s response through Qatari mediators in late September, and that the plan envisages reopening the strait and resuming negotiations in exchange for US steps such as lifting the naval blockade and restrictions on Iranian oil sales. A new US reply to the Baghdad remarks had not been reported at the time of writing.
The OIC setting and Iraq’s new role
The gathering brought together ministers from the 57-member organization under the theme of dialogue and solidarity. Iraq formally assumed the council’s rotating presidency from Türkiye during the opening session. Türkiye had held the post since June 2025.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi used his opening address to call for protecting trade routes and easing tensions through dialogue. He urged protection of international trade routes, stronger economic cooperation and dialogue to ease regional tensions. He also put forward an Iraqi initiative to link energy grids, transport corridors, railway networks and digital financial integration systems across OIC members.
Turkish officials had said ahead of the meeting that the agenda would cover Gaza, Israeli actions across the occupied Palestinian territories, regional conflicts and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al Mandab. The meeting was expected to conclude with the adoption of a Baghdad Declaration. The final text had not been confirmed in the material reviewed.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was expected to describe Israel’s military actions and expansionist policies as the Middle East’s most significant security threat, and to call for measures against countries relocating embassies to Jerusalem. On the sidelines, Fidan met Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty, Iran’s Araghchi and Iraq’s Fuad Hussein. Separately, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the existing global order and the United Nations on Friday, according to Yeni Safak.
Strategic implications
The venue matters as much as the message. Iran is addressing a forum that includes its Gulf neighbours, several of which have been affected by the conflict, and it has framed the reopening as a matter of OIC solidarity. In his remarks, Araghchi also said each regional state’s territory, airspace and infrastructure should be used only to serve regional security and never as a platform for attacks on a neighbor. That line is directed at host states of US forces, and Gulf delegations may read it as pressure rather than reassurance.
Iran’s account of events is contested. Its claim that the US and Israel caused the interruption to shipping is Tehran’s position, not an established finding, and it sits alongside the conditions Iran attaches to any reopening. Those conditions, as reported, include an end to the US naval blockade and relief on oil sales. Washington has not publicly accepted that sequencing in the reports reviewed.
Mediation channels remain active. Pakistan brokered the June memorandum, and Qatar is now carrying the seven-day plan. Iraq’s presidency of the OIC council gives Baghdad a platform to position itself as a convener, though the council’s resolutions are not binding on member states or on the United States.
What to watch
- The Baghdad Declaration: whether the OIC text, due at the close of the October 18 session, addresses Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab and attacks on Gulf states, and whether it names Iran or the United States.
- A US reply: any response from Washington, through Qatar or publicly, to the seven-day plan, particularly on the naval blockade and oil-sale restrictions.
- Shipping data: whether transit counts through Hormuz move back toward the roughly 60 percent of pre-war traffic Iran says was reached earlier.
- Mediator activity: further contacts involving Pakistan, Qatar and Oman, and whether the High Level Committee described in earlier reporting on the Islamabad framework convenes.
- Iraq’s agenda: follow-up on al-Zaidi’s proposed energy, rail and payments integration initiative among OIC members.
Sources
- Tehran Times, Either Security Together or Insecurity Together
- Tasnim News Agency, Iran Offers 7-Day Plan to Reopen Hormuz
- News Beep (Tasnim speech text), Iran Offers 7-Day Plan to Reopen Hormuz
- The Hans India, Iran's FM says Tehran ready for dialogue based on mutual respect, credible guarantees
- Shafaq News via Hathalyoum, Iran FM: Hormuz reopening now up to US
- Shafaq News via Hathalyoum, PM Al-Zaidi meets Iranian FM in Baghdad
- TokenPost, Iran Repeats Conditional Seven-Day Plan to Reopen Strait of Hormuz
- Yeni Safak, OIC foreign ministers convene in Baghdad for 52nd session
- Myanmar TV, Iraq officially assumed the rotating presidency of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers
- TRT World, Türkiye's Fidan to attend OIC foreign ministers' meeting in Baghdad
Top image: IAEA Imagebank / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
This article was produced by the Intelligence Report Desk. Sources are linked below.
