Reuters sources say the US and Iran are discussing a phased deal on Hormuz; Rubio says there were 'no breakthroughs'

Two accounts on one day. On 24 September Reuters reported that the US and Iran "discuss phased deal to reopen Hormuz and end US blockade". Its only source is "sources say". About 16 hours earlier, The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US negotiators "had restarted conversations about Iran's nuclear program, but that there were no breakthroughs."

They may not describe the same talks. Reuters' sources talk about the strait and the blockade. Rubio, in the Times report, talks about the nuclear program.

Pressure at the same time. A second Reuters report says new US "D-Day" sanctions have taken effect and Iranian flights were cancelled. The part we hold does not say who gave the sanctions that name or who cancelled the flights. The same report says the Saudis say they shot down Houthi missiles.

What is not settled - Whether a phased deal is on the table. Only unnamed sources say so. - Whether Rubio's "no breakthroughs" still stood by the time of the Reuters report. His remark was published first. - What Iran says. No report we hold quotes an Iranian official. - The detail. We hold only the headline or first line of each report.

What this is about: whether the United States and Iran are negotiating a way out of a confrontation that has closed one of the world's main oil routes.

How it got here. The US and Iran have been hostile since Iran's 1979 revolution and the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran. The main dispute for two decades has been Iran's nuclear program. In 2015 Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the US, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and the EU. Iran accepted limits on uranium enrichment in return for sanctions relief. In 2018, in his first term, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal and reimposed sanctions. Iran then expanded its enrichment. The war in Gaza began after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023. After that, Iran and Israel struck each other directly in 2024. In June 2025 Israel attacked Iran, and the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites. The reports we hold now describe a US blockade and a crisis that the Times says is widening.

The actors. - The United States: Trump has been president since January 2025. Marco Rubio is his Secretary of State and leads the diplomacy. - Iran: the country on the northern shore of the strait. Its nuclear program is at the centre of the dispute. - Saudi Arabia and the Houthis: the Houthis are an Iran-aligned movement that controls much of northern Yemen. Saudi Arabia has fought them since 2015. Their clashes are a second front in the region.

The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow channel between Iran and Oman. It is the only sea route out of the Persian Gulf, and much of the Gulf's oil and gas exports pass through it. Oil is priced on a world market, so when the strait shuts, fuel costs rise far from the Gulf.

What is at stake. A deal that reopens the strait would ease that pressure. Without one, the blockade and the sanctions continue.

Where it stands. On 24 September new US sanctions took effect. On the same day, one account said a phased deal was being discussed, and Rubio said there had been no breakthroughs.