TEHRAN — Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday the country remains in contact with mediators to ensure the implementation of its recently proposed seven-day plan to cease hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

"While our Brave Armed Forces are fully prepared to defend the Homeland, Iran continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed," he said on social media platform X.

Iran conveyed its seven-day plan to the US through mediators on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept 22, following which Tehran and Washington have reportedly continued exchanging messages on the proposal.

Speaking at a weekly briefing in Doha on Tuesday, Ibrahim bin Sultan Al Hashmi, director of the Qatari Foreign Ministry's Media and Communication Department, said messages and ideas were still being exchanged with the US and Iran.

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On Feb 28, Israel and the US launched joint attacks on Tehran and other Iranian cities. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and US bases and assets in the region, and tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.

A ceasefire was achieved between the warring parties on April 8. On June 18, Iran and the US signed a MoU on ending the war in the region on all fronts.

Under the MoU, the two countries were scheduled to hold negotiations within 60 days, ending on Aug 17, to reach a final agreement on Iran's nuclear program and the removal of sanctions. However, they failed to make sufficient progress toward a deal. 

Agreement with Mecca pact states

A recent agreement between Iran and the Mecca pact countries to continue consultations represents a "significant step," Araghchi said on Wednesday.

The remarks followed a meeting of senior officials from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan to discuss regional peace and security, held in the Iranian capital Tehran on Monday.

Araghchi said the recent meeting "provided a valuable opportunity to advance dialogue on regional peace and security, and to collectively address threats and challenges."

He said countering Israel's "malicious acts and aggressions is a fundamental necessity" to defend the independence and sovereignty of regional countries and prevent the war's spread. 

Trump's remarks on peace deal

US President Donald Trump's remarks describing a peace memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran as "a waste of time" have once again exposed Washington's "contempt for diplomacy," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Wednesday.

Baghaei made the remarks in a post on social media platform X after Trump said during a rally in Mississippi on Monday, "We did a little ceasefire (with Iran), which I never liked very much. I considered it sort of a waste of time. But you know, you like to listen to professionals."

"Washington's contempt for diplomacy is once again laid bare. President Trump's admission that he never believed in the Islamabad MoU and considered it a waste of time exposes the hollowness of US diplomatic commitments," Baghaei said.

The US "has a long record of reneging on its commitments and treating international obligations as disposable whenever they become inconvenient," he added.

Baghaei said European countries and other "apologists" for Washington had no justification "to continue whitewashing US misconduct and shielding it from accountability."

Principles of mediation

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on Qatar to uphold principles of mediation and demonstrate goodwill in its policies and approaches toward Tehran.

Mahmoud Maleki, head of the Iranian ministry's public relations department, said in a statement that the quadrilateral meeting held on Monday in Tehran was an indication of Iran's goodwill and responsible approach toward the common interests of the regional states.

He stressed that Iran expects all regional states, including Qatar, to show reciprocal goodwill and refrain from "letting aggressive parties use their territories and facilities to carry out military aggression against Iran."

Maleki called on Qatari officials to exercise greater care in media comments, given Qatar's mediation role in ongoing diplomatic processes.