Iran just offered to reopen Hormuz and its army is on standby

Iran's Foreign Minister says Tehran has a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In two days.

But only if the US meets Iran's conditions first.

Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that. It got repeated in Al Jazeera's live blog in the first hour of today.

So what's been happening behind this? Qatari mediators have been going back and forth between Tehran and Doha all week. Right now, an Iranian delegation is sitting in Doha, still talking.

And the timeline has already moved once. Qatar's mediators first asked for five days. Araghchi says Iran talked that down to two.

But here's the catch. The plan only works if Washington says yes to Iran's conditions. And that list is long.

Iran wants the sanctions from the Islamabad memorandum lifted. It wants fewer US troops in the region. It wants its oil waivers back. And it wants its frozen funds released, including money sitting in Qatar.

On top of that, Iran wants specific shipping routes through Hormuz formally recognised. It's been discussing that separately with Oman. And it wants other routes closed.

That's a big ask. Especially from a government that has a naval blockade sitting on Iran's ports right now.

That blockade has been running since 14 July. Admiral Brad Cooper, who runs US Central Command, said two weeks ago it has already cost Iran $25 billion in crude oil exports.

So think about what the two-day offer actually is. It's Iran's way out of that blockade. On its own terms.

Araghchi also shut down one part of the story. He called reports of an imminent meeting between Iranian and American officials "media speculation". Iran, he says, has no immediate plans to sit down with the US face to face.

Now here's the second track running underneath all of this.