Iran announced on Thursday that its foreign ministry is currently reviewing the United States’ latest proposal to end the war. This development came shortly after US President Donald Trump signaled he could wait a few days for the right answers from Tehran. However, Trump also issued a stern warning, promising to resume heavy military attacks on the country if Iranian leaders refuse to sign a final peace agreement. Pakistani mediators carried the high-stakes messages between the two sides, desperately trying to get the stalled peace talks back on track.
Trump spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday, making his impatient stance very clear. He warned that if the US does not get the right answers from Tehran, military action will resume very quickly. Earlier in the day, the president told the press that negotiators have reached the final stages of the Iran conflict. He threatened that the US would do a few things that are a bit nasty if the deal fails, though he expressed hope that the situation would not reach that point.
The Iranian government confirmed it had received the American response but showed no immediate signs of backing down. Nour News, a state-run Iranian agency, quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Thursday, confirming that Tehran has received the US views and is actively reviewing them. This brief confirmation keeps the diplomatic window open, but deep divisions over key issues still threaten to destroy the fragile six-week-old ceasefire completely.
Pakistan continues to act as the primary mediator and physical conduit for messages between Washington and Tehran. Pakistan’s interior minister traveled directly to Tehran on Wednesday to meet with Iranian leaders. At the same time, reports indicated that Pakistan’s Army Chief, Asim Munir, was preparing to fly to the Iranian capital on Thursday for urgent consultations. Negotiators are working around the clock to speed up the pace at which the two warring sides exchange messages.
Despite six weeks of a temporary ceasefire, actual negotiations to formally end the war have made almost zero progress. This ongoing diplomatic stalemate has wreaked havoc on the global economy. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has snarled global trade, forcing oil prices to rise above $110 a barrel. Financial analysts estimate that this shipping blockade has cost the international trade industry over $1.5 billion every single week. The surging fuel costs have stoked fears of inflation and a global recession.
The high cost of gasoline also creates massive political trouble for Trump back home. The president faces intense domestic pressure ahead of the crucial congressional midterm elections in November. US inflation has spiked by an extra 1.5% over the past two months due to the fuel crisis, dragging his public approval rating down to roughly 34%, near the absolute lowest level since he returned to the White House last year. Trump promised voters that gas prices would drop like a rock as soon as he forces Iran to sign a non-nuclear peace deal.
The actual terms of the proposals show that the two sides remain miles apart. Iran’s latest peace offer largely repeated demands that Trump already rejected. Tehran wants total control over the Strait of Hormuz, massive financial compensation for war damages, the unfreezing of its assets, and the complete withdrawal of US troops from the region. In addition, Iran recently released a map showing a controlled maritime zone in the strait, suggesting they plan to charge commercial vessels high access fees to pass through.
Washington flatly rejected Iran’s demands, especially the plan to charge fees in the international waterway. Trump insisted that the US wants the Strait of Hormuz open, free, and completely devoid of any illegal tolls. More importantly, Trump maintains his central war goal: he will never allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon. The US demands that any peace treaty must force Iran to ship its near-weapons-grade enriched uranium stockpile completely out of the country.
However, Iran’s stance on its nuclear stockpile appears to be hardening. Insiders close to the Iranian clerical establishment leaked news that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei recently issued a strict directive forbidding any enriched uranium from leaving the country. Iranian leaders believe surrendering the stockpile would leave them completely vulnerable to future US and Israeli airstrikes. With both sides refusing to take any action that makes them look weak, the entire Middle East remains on the brink of another massive explosion.
