Trump Unhappy With Iran’s Latest Proposal to End the War

President Donald Trump has rejected Iran’s latest outline for ending the two-month war, according to a US official, dealing a fresh blow to hopes of defusing a conflict that has rattled energy markets, pushed up inflation and left thousands dead.

The new Iranian proposal would postpone any discussion of Tehran’s nuclear programme until the war — paused after a ceasefire announced earlier this month — is formally over and disputes over Gulf shipping are settled.

Mr Trump opposes that sequencing and wants nuclear matters on the table from the beginning, a US official told Reuters after being briefed on the president’s meeting with advisers yesterday.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the US had “been clear about our red lines” as it works to end the war it launched with Israel in February.

However that deal fell apart when Mr Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in his first term in office.

Prospects for renewed diplomacy have dimmed further since the US president cancelled a trip planned for last weekend by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to mediator Pakistan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled in and out of Islamabad twice over the weekend. He also stopped in Oman and flew to Russia yesterday, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received backing from a longtime ally.

Iran’s Deputy Defence Minister Reza Talaei-Nik has said that Tehran was ready to share defensive weapons capabilities and experiences gained from “America’s defeat” with “independent” nations including those of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

That bloc includes Iran, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Central Asian states.

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Saint Petersburg

Oil prices rise again

With the two sides still appearing far from agreement, oil prices resumed their climb, rising nearly 3% today and adding to gains from the previous session.

“For oil traders, it’s not the rhetoric that matters any more, but the actual physical flow of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and right now, that flow remains constrained,” Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, said in a note.

Ship-tracking data showed that at least six tankers carrying Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the US blockade in recent days, highlighting the conflict’s growing effect on maritime traffic.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned US action against Iran-linked tankers as “outright legalisation of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas”, in a social media post.

However, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani has told state media that Iran had prepared for maritime blockade scenarios as early as the US 2024 presidential election and made necessary arrangements so that “there is nothing to worry about”.

She added Tehran was using northern, eastern and western trade corridors that do not rely on Gulf ports to neutralise the blockade’s effects.

Before the war, between 125 and 140 ships typically moved through the strait each day, but in the past 24 hours only seven have done so, according to Kpler ship-tracking data and satellite analysis from SynMax, and none were carrying oil for the global market.

As his approval ratings slide, Mr Trump is also under pressure at home to wind down a war for which he has offered the US public shifting explanations.

Senior Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the proposal carried by Mr Araghchi to Islamabad over the weekend set out a phased approach, leaving the nuclear file aside at the outset.

Under that plan, the first step would be ending the US-Israeli war on Iran and securing guarantees that Washington could not restart it. Negotiators would then address the US Navy blockade of Iran’s seaborne trade and the future of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran wants reopened under its control.

Only after that would talks move to other issues, including the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme, with Tehran still seeking some form of US recognition of its right to enrich uranium.

Israeli military orders towns in southern Lebanon to evacuate

Israel’s military has issued an urgent warning to residents of more than a dozen villages and towns in southern Lebanon, telling them to head north immediately and signalling that an attack may be imminent.

The military said the move was necessary because Hezbollah had violated a ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Fighting has continued on the Lebanese front of the war despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, with Beirut’s health ministry reporting that four people were killed by Israel in the south.

Fifty-one others were wounded, including three children, the ministry added.

Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the wider Middle East conflict by firing rockets at Israel, which responded with air strikes and a ground invasion.

The group’s leader Naim Qassem rejected planned direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel as a “grave sin,” and vowed to “not back down”.

Soon after, the Israeli military said it had started striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Israel says the terms of the truce allow it to act against imminent threats.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah’s rockets and drones still posed a threat that justified military action.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that “Qassem is playing with fire”.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, responding to Qassem, said his “goal is to reach an end to the state of war with Israel”.

But Israeli army chief of staff Eyal Zamir said 2026 was “likely to be another year of fighting” for Israel on all fronts.

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