Iran’s peace proposals, which included an immediate cessation of the war with guarantees against any renewed aggression upon the country, the lifting of the Hormuz blockade, and, most significantly, a shorter moratorium on Iranian nuclear enrichment than that proposed by the US, were dismissed by President Donald Trump as ‘totally unacceptable’, amid Benjamin Netanyahu’s warning of renewed attacks on Iran.
The Iranian response, conveyed to the US through Pakistani mediators, reportedly underscored Tehran’s insistence on the lifting of sanctions, the termination of the US-led blockade of Hormuz following an initial understanding, and the securing of binding assurances that no further attacks would be launched against Iranian territory.
Iran also resisted American demands for a prolonged halt to uranium enrichment and rejected calls for the dismantling of its nuclear infrastructure, while proposing instead the export of part of its highly enriched uranium stockpile and the dilution of the remainder, according to The Guardian.
The US proposal, submitted a week earlier, is understood to have comprised a fourteen-point memorandum aimed at reopening the strategically vital strait while establishing a framework for future negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme.
The US reportedly demanded a moratorium on Iranian enrichment activities extending up to two decades, the overseas transfer of Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and the dismantling of critical nuclear facilities.
Trump reacted with characteristic belligerence, declaring on his Truth Social platform that Iran had “been playing games” with the US and warning that Iran “will be laughing no longer”.
His remarks came amid reports that he was preparing to speak with Netanyahu, whose rhetoric further deepened fears of a rekindled conflict. Speaking to CBS’s 60 Minutes, Netanyahu insisted that the war could not end so long as Iran retained enriched uranium and functioning enrichment sites, asserting that the material would eventually have to be physically seized from Iranian territory.
Despite Netanyahu’s hardline posture, Trump appeared to strike a comparatively ambiguous tone regarding Iran’s uranium reserves, claiming that American satellite surveillance remained sufficient to monitor the stockpile buried beneath mountainous terrain in central Iran.
Yet the US president threatened that American forces could resume strikes at any moment, boasting that the US had completed “probably 70%” of its intended targets while retaining the capability to inflict further devastation.
The already fragile ceasefire brokered last month meanwhile showed signs of deterioration across the Gulf region, as drone incursions were reported in the airspace of Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE, while fresh strikes near Erbil and continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon intensified anxieties that the truce may be inching towards collapse.