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 Asian 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 (WTI) 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 United States on February 28 — 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 are 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.
Britain and France are sending vessels to the region and are leading efforts to create an international coalition to secure the strait after a peace deal is reached.
The two countries will also host a multinational meeting of defense ministers from more than 40 nations on Tuesday to discuss military plans to restore trade flows through the strait.
But French President Emmanuel Macron insisted his country had “never envisaged” a naval deployment in Hormuz, but rather a security mission “coordinated with Iran”, after Tehran warned the two countries would face a “decisive and immediate response” if their ships were deployed to the strait.
– ‘Restraint over’ –
As diplomatic momentum appeared to dwindle, fresh drone attacks in the Gulf on Sunday rattled the ceasefire.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses intercepted a drone attack launched from Iran, while Kuwait reported “hostile drones” in its airspace.
Qatar’s defense ministry also said a freighter arriving in its waters from Abu Dhabi was hit by a drone.
In a social media post on Sunday, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s national security commission warned Washington: “Our restraint is over as of today.”
“Any attack on our vessels will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases,” Ebrahim Rezaei said.
AFP.
