Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
Iran has a plan for the Strait of Hormuz. It has seven days. The United States has now sent an answer.
Iran's foreign minister says his country is reading the answer. Iran has not said yes or no.
President Trump says the American blockade will stay. Ships still cannot move freely in the strait. Many people want the war to end.
- plan
- a list of steps to do something
- answer
- a reply to a question or offer
- blockade
- a way to stop ships from coming or going
- strait
- a narrow water road between two lands
- minister
- a person who leads a part of a government
- ship
- a large boat
- war
- a fight between countries
- reply
- an answer
Level 2 - Elementary
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said this week that Tehran has received the American reply to its seven day plan for the Strait of Hormuz. He said Iran is now studying it.
The plan asks for a ceasefire and a slow reopening of the strait. It also asks the United States to free money that belongs to Iran, remove sanctions and end the naval blockade of Iranian ports.
President Trump said the blockade will remain in full force and effect. He also said he offered Iran nothing, but that talks are going on through other countries.
Qatar and Pakistan carry messages between the two sides. Mr Araghchi says these messages are not real negotiations. The war began on February 28, and shipping in the strait is still very low.
- ceasefire
- a stop to fighting
- sanctions
- punishments that limit trade with a country
- frozen funds
- money that a country cannot use
- naval
- connected with a navy
- mediator
- a person or country that helps two sides talk
- reopening
- opening again
- shipping
- the moving of goods by ship
- negotiation
- a talk to reach an agreement
Level 3 - Intermediate
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that Tehran has received Washington's answer to its seven day proposal for the Strait of Hormuz and is reviewing it. He did not say whether Iran will accept it.
The proposal calls for a ceasefire and a phased reopening of the strait. In return, Iran wants frozen funds released, sanctions lifted and the American naval blockade of its ports ended.
President Trump replied that the blockade will remain in full force and effect, and said he had offered Iran nothing to get a deal. At the same time he said negotiators are talking through mediators, mainly Qatar and Pakistan.
Mr Araghchi has argued that exchanging messages through those countries is not the same as negotiating. The conflict began on February 28, and commercial traffic through the strait is still a small part of what it was before the war.
- proposal
- a plan offered for others to accept
- phased
- done in stages
- reviewing
- looking at something carefully
- frozen funds
- money that is blocked from use
- mediator
- a neutral side that helps others reach a deal
- commercial
- related to business and trade
- conflict
- a serious fight or disagreement
- in return
- as an exchange for something
Level 4 - Advanced
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, disclosed this week that Tehran had received Washington's response to its seven day proposal on the Strait of Hormuz and was weighing it carefully, without signalling whether it would be accepted.
The Iranian blueprint envisages a ceasefire and a phased reopening of the waterway, in exchange for the release of frozen assets, the lifting of sanctions and an end to the American naval blockade of Iranian ports.
President Trump responded that the blockade would remain in full force and effect, insisting he had offered Tehran nothing, even as he acknowledged that negotiators were communicating through intermediaries, chiefly Qatar and Pakistan.
Mr Araghchi has maintained that the exchange of messages through those capitals falls short of genuine negotiation. The war, which began on February 28, has left commercial transit through the strait at a small fraction of its prewar volume, keeping pressure on energy markets and on shipping insurers.
- blueprint
- a detailed plan
- envisages
- imagines or proposes as a future outcome
- intermediaries
- people or countries that pass messages between sides
- falls short of
- is not as good or complete as
- transit
- the passing of ships or goods through a place
- prewar
- before the war
- insurers
- companies that pay for losses in return for fees
- weighing
- considering the good and bad points of
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