Tehran: Iran has turned down a US proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
The offer reached Tehran via a "friendly" country on Thursday, Fars cited an informed source as saying. It followed stepped-up US diplomatic pushes, especially after an Iranian strike hit a US military depot on Kuwait's Bubiyan Island, Xinhua reported quoting sources.
Fars assessments indicate the proposal stemmed from regional crisis escalation and US "miscalculations" about Iran's military strength, creating serious issues for American forces.
Iran's reply came not in writing, but through ongoing battlefield attacks.
In related developments, Iran's army confirmed downing a US A-10 "Warthog" attack plane over southern waters near the Strait of Hormuz; it crashed into the Persian Gulf. This followed an IRGC claim of shooting down a US F-35 in central airspace earlier Friday. Mehr News Agency later reported a US Black Hawk helicopter struck by a projectile in Iranian skies while hunting for the F-35 pilot.
Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Governor Yadollah Rahmani urged tribal and rural residents to help locate "enemy pilots."
The exchanges trace back to February 28 joint Israel-US strikes on Tehran and other cities, killing then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, top commanders, and civilians. Iran retaliated with missile and drone barrages on Israeli and US targets across the Middle East.
(Inputs from IANS)