Islamabad: US President Donald Trump said Friday he was “not satisfied” with Iran’s latest proposal in negotiations to end war between the countries, rejecting the plan almost as soon as it was delivered.
“They want to make a deal, I’m not satisfied with it, so we’ll see what happen,” Trump told reporters Friday at the White House.
Iran handed over its latest proposal for negotiations to mediators in Pakistan on Thursday night, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The shaky three-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appears to be still holding though both countries have traded accusations of violations.
Trump did not elaborate on what he saw as the latest proposal’s shortcomings. “They’re asking for things I can’t agree to,” he said.
Negotiations have continued by phone after Trump called off his envoys’ trip to Pakistan last week, the president said. He expressed frustration with Iran’s leadership, describing it as fractured.
“It’s a very disjointed leadership,” he said. “They all want to make a deal, but they’re all messed up.”
While the ceasefire has largely halted fighting in Iran, the U.S. and Iran are locked in a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passes in peacetime. A U.S. Navy blockade stopping Iran’s tankers from getting out to sea has Iran’s economy reeling. The world economy is also under pressure as Iran maintains its chokehold on the strait.
Trump earlier this week floated a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by America’s Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a flurry of calls on Friday with many of his regional counterparts, including from Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Azerbaijan, to brief them on his country’s latest initiatives to end the war, according to his social media.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also spoke over phone Friday with Araghchi. They discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and long-term security arrangements, Kallas’ office said in a statement. Kallas also has been in contact with the EU’s Gulf partners.
Pakistan officials have said efforts were continuing to ease tensions between Iran and the U.S. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that a response from Iran was still awaited.
Earlier this week, Trump told Axios that he had rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the strait in exchange for the U.S. Navy lifting its blockade of Iranian ports.
The Iranian proposal would have pushed negotiations on the country’s nuclear program to a later date, two regional officials said earlier this week. The officials with knowledge of the proposal spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door negotiations between Iranian and Pakistani officials.
One of the major reasons Trump has said he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons.
Since the war began on Feb. 28, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, and more than 2,600 people in Lebanon, where new fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah broke out two days after the war started, according to authorities.
Additionally, 24 people have died in Israel and more than 20 in Gulf Arab states. Seventeen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.
