Washington: US President Donald Trump is unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal on resolving the two-month war, a US official said, dampening hopes for a resolution to the conflict that has disrupted energy supplies, fuelled inflation, and killed thousands.
Iran’s latest proposal would set aside discussion of its nuclear programme until the war is ended and disputes over shipping from the Gulf are resolved.
That is unlikely to satisfy the US, which insists nuclear issues must be addressed from the outset, and Trump was unhappy with Iran’s proposal for that reason, a US official briefed on the president’s Monday meeting with his advisers said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the US “will not negotiate through the press” and has “been clear about our red lines” as the Trump administration looks to end the war against Iran, which it began in February alongside Israel.
A previous agreement in 2015 between Iran and multiple other countries, including the US, sharply curtailed Iran’s nuclear programme, which it has long maintained is for peaceful, civilian purposes. However, that deal fell apart when Trump unilaterally withdrew from it during his first term in office.
Hopes of reviving peace efforts have receded since the US president scrapped a visit planned for last weekend by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Islamabad, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi shuttled in and out twice during the weekend.
Araqchi also visited Oman and on Monday travelled to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received words of support from a longstanding ally.
With the warring sides still far apart, oil prices resumed their upward trend, extending gains in early Asian trade on Tuesday.
“For oil traders, it’s not the rhetoric that matters anymore, but the actual physical flow of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and right now, that flow remains constrained,” said Fawad Razaqzada in a note.
At least six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the US blockade in recent days, ship-tracking data showed, underscoring the war’s impact on maritime traffic.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned US seizures of Iran-linked tankers as “outright legalisation of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas” in a social media post.
Between 125 and 140 ships usually crossed in and out of the strait daily before the war, but only seven did so in the past day, according to Kpler ship-tracking data and satellite analysis from SynMax, and none were carrying oil bound for the global market.
With his approval ratings falling, Trump faces growing domestic pressure to end a war for which he has offered shifting justifications to the US public.
Araqchi told reporters in Russia that Trump had requested negotiations because the US had not achieved any of its objectives.
Senior Iranian officials said the proposal carried by Araqchi to Islamabad envisioned phased talks, with the nuclear issue deliberately postponed at the start.
The first step would require ending the US-Israeli war on Iran and securing guarantees that the US cannot restart it. Negotiators would then address the US Navy’s blockade of Iran’s maritime trade and the future of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran aims to reopen under its control.
Only after these steps would talks move to other issues, including the long-standing dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme, with Iran still seeking US acknowledgement of its right to enrich uranium.
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