Reports and denials abounded yesterday, including with quotes from Araghchi in particular, that Iran had offered President Trump a 7-day ceasefire at the end of which Iran would open the Strait of Hormuz in return for the U.S. lifting its naval blockade, but in the end Trump rejected it. “They made a proposal but I reject it,” he told reporters at the White House on Saturday.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, last night, Trump is skeptical Iran would meet his demands and has told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely, unnamed officials said. That Trump undermined the Islamabad memorandum by his refusal to implement it in the first place despite having put his own signature on it is, not surprisingly, never mentioned. The Journal notes that Trump’s views today could shift as the war drags over the coming weeks, officials said, and could be affected by the results of the midterms. In other words, there’s potentially a lot more vacillation to come.

Al Jazeera reported earlier in the day that Qatari mediators were passing messages back-and-forth between U.S. and Iranian negotiators. Speaking on the sidelines on Thursday Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the timetable could begin as soon as Washington accepted the proposal. Araghchi told reporters in New York that Iran had presented its plan to the U.S. through intermediaries. “If certain conditions are met, the Strait of Hormuz would be open on the end of the seventh day and [peace] talks would restart,” he said.