President Donald Trump has dismissed Iran’s response to US proposals to end the war as “totally unacceptable”.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Tehran’s proposal, sent via Pakistan, which has served as a mediator, included an immediate end to the war on all fronts, a halt to a US naval blockade and guarantees of no further attacks on Iran.
A ceasefire meant to facilitate talks to end the war launched by the US and Israel in February has been largely observed, despite occasional exchanges of fire.
Earlier this week, Trump repeated that the war in Iran will be “over quickly”.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium must be “taken out” before the war against Iran can be considered over.
“There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” Netanyahu said in an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes show.
On Sunday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian did not directly reference Tehran’s proposal but said: “We will never bow our heads before the enemy, and if talk of dialogue or negotiation arises, it does not mean surrender or retreat.”
Trump posted on Truth Social: “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it – TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.”
US news outlet Axios reported that the one-page, 14-point US memorandum includes provisions such as a suspension on Iranian nuclear enrichment, the lifting of sanctions, and restoring free transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
It cited two US officials and two other sources – all unnamed – whom it described as briefed on the issues. These sources were reported as saying that many of the terms laid out in the memo would be contingent on a final agreement being reached.
Iran has continued to block the Strait of Hormuz – leading to a rise in world oil prices.
The US, for its part, has been enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports to exert pressure on Tehran to agree to its terms – a move that has infuriated Iran.
Israeli and US forces began massive air strikes on Iran on 28 February. A ceasefire in the Iran war came into effect last month.
In his CBS interview, Netanyahu said “I want to draw down to zero” the US financial support for Israel’s military. “We receive $3.8 billion a year. And I think that it’s time that we weaned ourselves from the remaining military support.”
He added, “Let’s start now and do it over the next decade”.
