LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President Trump says he rejected an Iranian offer to suspend hostilities for seven days and immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The president said the Iranian offer, quote, "would not be acceptable" and that Iran is, in his words, losing so badly.
FADEL: Joining us to discuss this and more is NPR international correspondent in the Gulf, Aya Batrawy. Good morning, Aya.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: OK. So today marks seven months since the U.S. and Israel launched war on Iran and killed its supreme leader. Where do things stand right now?
BATRAWY: So Iran's latest offer, which you mentioned, is basically that the two sides agree to something similar to the memorandum of understanding that they had agreed to back in June. And that deal barely lasted a few weeks. So what Iran wants is the U.S. to lift its naval blockade on its oil exports and to unfreeze billions of its dollars in foreign banks in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. But Trump already says he rejects those terms. Now, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi - he was on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday. And I'd like you to listen to how he describes his country's position seven months into this war.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ABBAS ARAGHCHI: We are fully prepared for the war to be resumed. And I repeat - we stand firm in the face of any new aggression, even it comes to a doomsday war. But at the same time, we are ready - we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose.
BATRAWY: So as you heard there, he talked about being ready for a doomsday war or for diplomacy. Now, Trump says Iran is desperate to make a deal because U.S. sanctions are strangling its economy. And he says that massive amounts of oil are already flowing through the Strait of Hormuz now.
FADEL: Is that true? Are massive amounts of oil coming through the strait?
BATRAWY: So, Leila, flows coming out of the strait are really not consistent. They do swing from one week to another. But the most recent data by Kpler shows a seven-day average last week of around 13 million barrels a day of oil coming out of the strait. Now, that's compared to around 15 to 17 million barrels a day of crude exports before the war. But there's two things to keep in mind. One is that Iran can and still does attack ships transiting through that narrow waterway. So these ships are running dark, with their transponders off to hide their location.
And that leads to the second point, which is that it's very expensive for ships to export oil through the Strait of Hormuz because of those risks without a deal in place. Brent crude is trading at around $107 a barrel today. That's more than 50% higher than before the war. And we heard last week Qatar's energy minister saying that the Strait of Hormuz is indispensable - that pipelines are not a solution and they're vulnerable to attacks. Saudi Arabia's key pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz was attacked this month. And it needs the Strait of Hormuz open because its secondary route to export oil through the Red Sea remains blocked by Yemen's Houthis.
FADEL: That's right. Tell us about that war between the Houthis and the Saudis. Is Saudi Arabia getting support from allies?
BATRAWY: So, Leila, the U.K. has stepped in with a refueling aircraft to support the Saudi air force and its bombing of the Houthis, who are supported by Iran. The U.K. says these wars in the Gulf are having an impact on prices at home. And as France looks to another winter and its needs for gas and oil, it is sending soldiers, radar and defense systems to help the Saudis defend against Houthi attacks.
Now, the Houthis say their attacks will continue until Saudi Arabia ends its attacks. And this past weekend, Saudi Arabia says the Houthis again fired at its capital, Riyadh. But, you know, ultimately, seven months into this conflict, which remains unresolved, there is an absence of peace in the Gulf. And it's Washington's Gulf allies that are the ones paying the heavy price of this continued uncertainty and instability.
FADEL: That's NPR's Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Thank you.
BATRAWY: Thanks, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
