DOMINANT ANGLE
Lisbon retains above all the mediation offer launched by Moscow in the wake of the American refusal, more than the actual content of the Iranian plan for Hormuz.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Sergey Lavrov stated at the UN that "Russia is available to help stabilize the situation in the Strait of Hormuz".
- 02
A White House source told the Wall Street Journal that Donald Trump doubts Tehran's ability to meet US requirements.
- 03
RTP recalls that before the conflict, around a fifth of the world's oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
ANALYSIS
Lisbon, September 27, 2026. The Portuguese press reported on Donald Trump's rejection, on Saturday, September 26, of the Iranian plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in seven days — but it's a reaction from Moscow that takes center stage in the reports from RTP and SAPO Notícias. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, that "Russia is available to help stabilize the situation in the Strait of Hormuz." "We need trust in the relations between the Gulf states, the Arab states, and Iran. We need a stable regional architecture," he added, a statement quoted verbatim by the two Portuguese outlets.
The American rejection itself is reported in a factual manner: Donald Trump announced that he had refused the proposal transmitted by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, which provided for seven days of ceasefire in the Middle East followed by the reopening of the strait, in exchange for the lifting of the American naval blockade, the end of oil sanctions, and the unfreezing of Iranian assets. RTP cites a White House source relayed by the Wall Street Journal, according to which Donald Trump "distrusts Tehran's ability to meet American requirements."
The Portuguese coverage also recalls the economic stakes of the issue: before the open conflict between Washington and Tehran, RTP estimates that about a fifth of the world's oil traffic passed through Hormuz. On the Iranian side, President Massoud Pezeshkian assured CBS that his country "would respect any agreement concluded with the United States."
In this sequence, Lisbon is therefore more focused on Moscow's diplomatic gesture, which positions itself as a potential mediator at the very moment when the Americans are closing the door to the Iranian proposal — a reading that puts Russia at the center of the Gulf's security architecture, rather than Qatar, which is nonetheless described elsewhere as the transmission channel for the plan.
