Iran has delivered a new proposal for peace talks with the United States through Pakistan as a mediator, state media reported on Friday. The negotiations between the two sides remain frozen despite a weeks-long ceasefire.
New Proposal Handed to Islamabad
The text of the proposal was handed to Islamabad on Thursday evening, according to the IRNA news agency. The war, initiated by the United States and Israel with a wave of surprise strikes on February 28, has been on hold since April 8. However, only one failed round of direct talks has taken place between Iranian and U.S. representatives.
In the meantime, Iran has maintained its control over the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off vast amounts of oil, gas, and fertilizer from the global economy. The United States has imposed a counterblockade on Iranian ports.
Trump's Response
President Donald Trump expressed displeasure with the current state of negotiations but stopped short of threatening fresh military action. “They want to make a deal but I’m not satisfied with it,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “We just had a conversation with Iran. Let’s see what happens. But I would say that I am not happy.”
Asked about the administration’s options, Trump mused, “Do we want to just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever or do we want to try and make a deal?” He added that “on a human basis, I prefer not” to order more strikes.
Ceasefire Holds Amid Blockades
Despite the failure to negotiate an end to the war, the ceasefire has held. On Friday, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, a senior cleric, said “the Islamic Republic has never shied away from negotiations.” However, he also stated that “we certainly do not accept imposition,” in a video shared by the judiciary’s Mizan Online website. Ejei emphasized that Tehran does not want a return to war: “We do not welcome war in any way; we do not want war, we do not want its continuation.”
The lack of fighting has not calmed markets. Oil prices remain more than 50 percent above their prewar levels as traders confront a prolonged closure of Hormuz. The European Central Bank held interest rates amid fears of soaring inflation.
New Proposal Details
In the new proposal, Tehran offers to discuss conditions for opening the strait while still demanding that the U.S. pledges to stop its attacks and unwind its blockade, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.
Washington is also gripped by a legal debate over whether Trump passed a deadline for requesting congressional approval for the war with Iran. Administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, insisted that the ceasefire paused the 60-day deadline requiring the president to seek war powers authorization from Congress.
