Trump pours cold water on latest Iranian peace proposal

U.S. President Donald Trump says his options on Iran are to "just blast the hell out of them" or to "try and make a deal." Photo by Jim WATSON /AFP

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Efforts continued to broker an end to the Iran war, now into its third month, as U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the Islamic Republic’s latest peace proposal might not be enough to satisfy him.

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Iran’s suggestions include setting a one-month deadline on talks for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end both the U.S. naval blockade and the fighting in Iran and Lebanon, Axios reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

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If such a pact is reached, another month of discussions would then begin in an attempt to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, according to Axios.

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Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported the proposal called for a complete end to the conflict within 30 days, along with guarantees against renewed strikes. It said the plan reiterates Tehran’s earlier demands, including that U.S. forces withdraw from near Iran, a maritime blockade be lifted, sanctions removed, and reparations paid. The nuclear issue wasn’t mentioned.

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On Sunday, Iran said it received the U.S. response to its 14-point plan via Pakistan, which has been acting as an intermediary, and is reviewing it, according to Iranian TV, which cited Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei. The report didn’t offer details about what the U.S. said.

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Trump, speaking to reporters on Saturday, said he’d been briefed on the “concept of the deal,” but later cast doubts on whether it would be acceptable to him. He said he wouldn’t rule out restarting strikes on Iranian targets if its rulers “misbehave.”

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“I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

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The U.S. president has voiced frustration at the lack of progress in talks to end the conflict that began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic on Feb. 28. Thousands of people have been killed across the Middle East since then, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.

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Iran’s foreign ministry said Sunday that the country’s top envoy, Abbas Araghchi, had briefed his Omani counterpart on the latest efforts to end the war. It gave no further details on their phone call.

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Energy prices have soared because of the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway south of Iran through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally flows. That’s stirred concerns in the White House that the Republicans could suffer a major defeat in November’s Midterm elections as Americans cope with high gasoline prices.

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Major OPEC+ nations on Sunday agreed on a modest and symbolic increase in their June production quota levels, delegates said. Seven countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, would — at least on paper — add 188,000 barrels a day next month under the pact.