Trump rejects Iran peace terms
\nIran\u2019s reply, sent through Pakistan, focuses on ending the war \u201con all fronts, especially Lebanon\u201d
\n WASHINGTON
\nUS President Donald Trump on Sunday branded Iran\u2019s terms for ending the Middle East war \u201ctotally unacceptable,\u201d raising the likelihood of renewed conflict after weeks of negotiations.
\nIran had responded to Washington\u2019s latest peace proposal earlier in the day, while warning it would not hold back from retaliating against any new US strikes or permit more foreign warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
\nTrump himself provided no details on Tehran\u2019s counterproposal, but in a brief post on his Truth Social platform made clear he was rejecting it.
\n\u201cI have just read the response from Iran\u2019s so-called \u2018Representatives.\u2019 I don\u2019t like it \u2014 TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!\u201d Trump said.
\nThe back and forth came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u2014 whose forces launched the war on Iran along with the US military on February 28 \u2014 insisted the conflict was not over until Iran\u2019s enriched uranium was removed and its nuclear facilities dismantled.
\nTehran publicly maintained its defiant line, despite behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
\n\u201cWe will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat,\u201d Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday on X.
\nAccording to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran\u2019s response to the US plan, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war \u201con all fronts, especially Lebanon\u201d \u2014 where Israel has kept up its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah \u2014 as well as on \u201censuring shipping security.\u201d
\nIt offered little detail, though the US proposal had reportedly focused on extending the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a final settlement of the conflict and on Iran\u2019s contested nuclear program.
\nThe impasse unnerved global energy markets, with oil prices opening sharply higher Monday. The international benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.69% to $104.01 a barrel on July delivery.
\nNetanyahu said in an interview which aired Sunday that Iran\u2019s stockpile of enriched uranium must be removed before the war can end.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not over, because there\u2019s still nuclear material \u2014 enriched uranium \u2014 that has to be taken out of Iran. There\u2019s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,\u201d Netanyahu told CBS\u2019s \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d
\nHe added that Trump was on the same page about the enriched uranium, though the president said in a recent interview that the US could remove it \u201cwhenever we want,\u201d and that it was \u201cvery well surveilled\u201d where it is now.
\nTrump is expected to press President Xi Jinping of China \u2014 a major buyer of Iranian oil \u2014 on Iran when he visits Beijing this coming week, a senior US administration official said.
\nNo Hormuz \u2018interference\u2019
\nMeanwhile The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Iran laid out its own demands to Washington and proposed to have some of its highly enriched uranium diluted, and the rest transferred to a third country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trump rejects Iran peace terms Iran\u2019s reply, sent through Pakistan, focuses on ending the war \u201con all fronts, especially Lebanon\u201d WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump on Sunday branded Iran\u2019s terms for ending the Middle East war \u201ctotally unacceptable,\u201d raising the likelihood of renewed conflict after weeks of negotiations. Iran had responded to Washington\u2019s latest peace […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-545950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n