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Iran says it is waiting on the “definitive” response to its latest proposal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, despite US President Donald Trump publicly rejecting the offer.

Under the plan, Iran would open the critical waterway within a week and resume nuclear talks if the US met certain conditions, including lifting a naval blockade and waiving sanctions on oil.

“We saw the first reaction from the US president, but nothing has been conveyed to us from the mediators yet,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

He added: “Of course, the US president has also said many good things and also many contradictory things, which unfortunately we hear a lot from him. We are waiting for the definitive opinions to be conveyed to us by the mediators and we will make a decision based on that.”

Trump on Saturday rejected Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, calling it “unacceptable.”

After a week in which senior Iranian officials visited New York to attend the UN General Assembly and meet US officials, Trump’s comments suggested there has been no tangible diplomatic progress.

“They want to make a deal where they open the strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” he added. “They want a make a deal, and I think that’s fine. I like making a deal too, but that deal would not be acceptable.”

On Sunday, Trump told Axios that he expects more talks with Iran to occur this week.

“They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make,” the president said. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand.

Donald Trump asked Xi Jinping “at one point” whether China was interested in buying American weapons, the US envoy to Beijing said on Sunday.

In an interview with Fox News, ambassador David Perdue said: “President Trump continues to say: hey, we sell arms to other people around the world. He actually asked President Xi would he like to buy some at one point?”

The comment came in response to questions about whether Trump had delayed the approval of a record $14bn arms-sale package for Taiwan in an effort to appease Xi and avoid derailing his meetings with the Chinese leader.

Perdue did not make clear if Trump made the offer during the summit this week or on another occasion, such as their meeting in Beijing in May.

Trump’s comments were all the more remarkable since his administration has raised concerns about Beijing providing help — including dual-use technology with military applications — to Iran and views China as its biggest military rival.

“Trump’s purported offer to sell weapons to China is demented. I bet Xi was tempted to say: ‘We’ll take one of everything, please,’” said Zack Cooper, an Asia security expert at the American Enterprise Institute. “It is shocking that Trump is resisting authorising arms sales to Taiwan but at the same time offering them to China.”

Ahead of the summit, Taiwan and US allies were nervous that Trump might weaken US support for Taiwan to get something in exchange from Xi. After their last meeting, which was held in Beijing in May, Trump sparked concern by saying that arms sales to Taiwan were a “good negotiating chip”.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about Perdue’s remarks.

Dennis Wilder, former top White House Asia adviser to George W Bush, said Trump may have been “yanking President Xi’s chain” to remind him about the superiority of US weapons but stressed that even that was dangerous.

“Even joking about an issue of great importance to Taiwan and our allies in east Asia may redouble existing doubts about the seriousness with which the president takes the threat of Chinese military aggression,” Wilder said.

Perdue dismissed concerns about Trump’s position on Taiwan, saying he was “as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and rejected suggestions that Trump had delayed the $14bn arms sales package to appease China.

China’s Xinhua state-run news agency on Thursday said Xi had said Beijing “hopes the US side will adhere to the correct position of opposing ‘Taiwan independence’.”

Perdue said US policy towards Taiwan had not changed. This included the One China policy, which says the US recognises Beijing as the government of China and acknowledges — without accepting — its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.

Perdue declined to discuss the timing of the $14bn arms package except to say conversations were “continuing”.

He noted that Trump had authorised a record $11.1bn in arms to Taipei last December — more than the $8.4bn President Joe Biden approved over four years, according to the US-Taiwan Business Council. And he added that Trump had approved over 50 per cent more arms for Taiwan than any US leader since 1979.

Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US, said: “The US has been our main supplier of selling weapons to Taiwan. We hope that we can get that weapons [package] in as soon as possible.”

Two villages and a town near R.A.F. Fairford were thrust into the spotlight after the authorities said they were investigating a possible terrorist plot targeting the base.

South Korea’s presidential office demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea and then falsely denying that the two sides had agreed to keep the move confidential.

“The presidential office expresses strong regret over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a non-disclosure agreement,” Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said in a statement released on Sunday.

He said the government was reviewing additional measures over the issue if necessary.

Seong said Ukraine had repeatedly discussed the prisoners’ transfer with Seoul through various channels and had requested secrecy, arguing that public disclosure could trigger domestic criticism that Kyiv had given up an opportunity to exchange the soldiers for Ukrainian prisoners.

South Korea agreed to keep the transfer confidential given security, diplomatic and humanitarian concerns, including the safety of the prisoners and their families, he said.

According to the statement, Ukraine later disclosed the transfer in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the United Nations General Assembly without sufficient prior consultation and subsequently denied the existence of any confidentiality agreement.

Seong said the denial had seriously damaged trust between the two governments and could harm bilateral relations.

Ukraine’s embassy in Seoul did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Zelensky told the United Nations General Assembly last week that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. He said the men had recently been sent there after being captured while fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung days earlier said Ukraine had disclosed the transfer in breach of a non-disclosure agreement.

In a post on X, Lee said “it was appropriate in every aspect not to disclose” the transfer, given the potential consequences, and that the two sides had agreed to keep it confidential.

“I do not know what circumstances led the Ukrainian side to disclose the matter despite the confidentiality agreement, but it is deeply regrettable,” he wrote.

Ukraine captured the two North Koreans in Russia’s Kursk region in January 2025. They were the first North Korean soldiers to be captured alive since Pyongyang entered the war in 2024, assisting Russia.

South Korea had previously declined to confirm the soldiers’ arrival, citing concerns for their safety and that of family members still in North Korea.

Seoul and Kyiv had been discussing a possible transfer after the two soldiers expressed a desire to go to South Korea, according to an opposition lawmaker in Seoul.

The transfer comes as South Korea has backed efforts to revive dialogue with North Korea, while US President Donald Trump has renewed his willingness to engage with Pyongyang.