Trump on Iran’s peace terms: I don’t like it
Iran warns it would not hold back from retaliating against any new US strikes.
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Daily TribuneIran warns it would not hold back from retaliating against any new US strikes.
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PHOTOGRAPH courtesy of CN-STR/AFP
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump branded Iran’s terms for ending the Middle East war “totally unacceptable,” raising the possibility of fresh conflict and sending oil prices sharply higher in early Asia trade on Monday.
Iran had on Sunday responded to Washington’s latest peace proposal and warned it would not hold back from retaliating against any new US strikes or permit more foreign warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump made clear in a post on his Truth Social platform that he would reject Tehran’s counter-proposal, though he did not offer details on its contents.
“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Trump said.
The impasse unnerved global energy markets, with international benchmark Brent crude prices rising 4.65 percent to $99.95 a barrel during Monday morning trade in Asia.
Benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate also surged by just over 4 percent to $105.5 a barrel, as investors braced for further disruptions to supplies through the strait, where Tehran has imposed a partial blockade.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — whose forces launched the war on Iran along with the US on 28 February — also insisted the conflict would not end until Iran’s nuclear facilities were removed.
“It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material — enriched uranium — that has to be taken out of Iran. There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” Netanyahu told CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Tehran has publicly maintained a defiant line during diplomatic efforts to bring the warring sides back to the negotiating table.
“We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted to X on Sunday.
According to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran’s response to the US plan, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war “on all fronts, especially Lebanon” — where Israel has kept up its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah — as well as on “ensuring shipping security.”
It provided little further detail, though the US proposal had reportedly focused on extending the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a settlement of the conflict and Iran’s contested nuclear program.
Trump is expected to press China’s President Xi Jinping — a major buyer of Iranian oil — on the Iran issue when he visits Beijing on Thursday, according to a senior US official.
‘Decisive response’
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Iran’s counter-proposal had included the possibility of diluting some of its highly enriched uranium, with the rest transferred to a third country.
Iran had sought guarantees that the transferred uranium would be returned if negotiations failed or Washington abandoned the agreement, sources told the Journal.
The lack of a clear path to a resolution has focused concern on the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is restricting maritime traffic and setting up a payment mechanism to charge tolls for crossing ships.
US officials have stressed it would be “unacceptable” for Tehran to control the international waterway — the route for a fifth of the world’s oil.
The US Navy is also blockading Iran’s ports, at times disabling or diverting ships heading to and from them.
