Vehicles drive past a billboard with graphic showing Strait of Hormuz and sewn lips of US President Donald Trump in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, May 2, 2026. (PHOTO / AP)
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/DOHA – Iran’s latest response to a US plan is “totally unacceptable,” US President Donald Trump said Sunday.
“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social, without elaborating.
Iran’s response to the latest US proposed text for ending the conflict was sent on Sunday to mediator Pakistan, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported.
According to the proposed plan, at this stage, negotiations will focus on ending the conflict in the region, the IRNA report said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Iran needs to “make it clear” that they do not seek a nuclear weapon, which Washington sees as crucial to a peace deal.
Iran’s draft proposal for US talks
Meanwhile, Iran’s latest draft proposal for talks with the United States calls for an immediate cessation of conflict on all fronts, a guarantee for no more “aggression” against Iran, and the lifting of US sanctions and naval blockade, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Sunday.
“The proposal highlights the need to immediately end the war, provide guarantees for the non-repetition of the aggression against Iran, and certain other issues within a political agreement,” Tasnim cited an informed source as saying.
It also demands a 30-day window for rescinding US sanctions on Iranian oil sales, and the release of Iran’s frozen assets following the preliminary agreement, it reported.
ALSO READ: US-Iran standoff in Strait of Hormuz casts fresh shadow over peace prospects
Over the past weeks, the two sides have reportedly exchanged several proposed plans outlining conditions for ending the conflict through Pakistan.
A ceasefire between the warring parties took effect on April 8, which was followed by talks between Iranian and US delegations in Pakistan’s Islamabad on April 11 and 12 that ended without an agreement. Later, the United States imposed its own blockade on the strait.
Prepared for ‘hostile US-Israeli actions’
In a meeting with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Ali Abdollahi, chief commander of Iran’s main military command Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, presented the leader with a report of the country’s armed forces’ readiness, the official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.
During the meeting, Abdollahi said they are well-prepared to counter the “hostile actions” of the United States and Israel, the report said, without specifying the date of the session.
If the United States and Israel perpetrate any act of aggression against Iran, the Iranian armed forces will respond to them “swiftly, intensely, and powerfully”, Abdollahi said.
A patrol boat moves through the water as cargo ships sit at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, May 2, 2026.(PHOTO / ISNA VIA AP)
Iran to decisively respond to warships’ presence
Also on Sunday, Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Legal and International Affairs, warned that the presence of French and British warships in the Strait of Hormuz to accompany the US “illegal and internationally unlawful” actions will be met with a “decisive and immediate” response from Iran’s armed forces.
He made the remarks in a social media post while reacting to France’s deployment of its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to prepare for a future joint mission between Paris and London to secure the freedom of shipping and navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Gharibabadi said the British government has also announced that to accompany France, it will send a warship to the Red Sea, adding any deployment and stationing of trans-regional destroyers around the Strait of Hormuz under the pretext of protecting shipping “is nothing but an escalation of the crisis, the militarization of the vital waterway, and an attempt to cover up the true root of insecurity in the region”.
US F-35 fighter jet sends distress code
In another development, a US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jet squawked 7700 emergency signal Sunday morning as it was flying over the Gulf of Oman, Tasnim news agency reported.
After sending the emergency code, the aircraft changed course toward the United Arab Emirates and began losing altitude, the report said.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, two US Air Force aircraft, namely a KC-135R Stratotanker and a Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, carrying out operations over the Gulf, squawked 7700, according to Tasnim.
US-owned tanker ship attacked
Meanwhile, a US-owned vessel was attacked by two Iranian drones in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, Chairman of Safesea Group SV Anchan told Fox News Digital.
One drone hit the Neha trade ship while the other missed, said the report.
ALSO READ: US, Iran clash again while Washington says no intention of escalation
The ship had 23 sailors aboard and no injuries were reported, it said.
People walk as Iranian flags hang in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, May 3, 2026. (PHOTO / AP)
US monitoring buried Iranian enriched uranium
In an interview recorded last week and aired on Sunday with independent journalist Sharyl Attkisson, Trump has said that the United States is monitoring Iranian enriched uranium buried under the rubble, and the US Space Force takes charge of the matter.
If anyone approaches the Iranian enriched uranium, the United States will know about it and “blow them up”, Trump said.
Trump claimed that it would only take two more weeks for US forces to hit “every single target” in Iran, which he said was “militarily defeated”.
Qatari, Iranian foreign ministers discuss regional security
During a phone call on Sunday, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Jassim Al-Thani and Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi discussed regional developments and efforts aimed at promoting peace, security and stability.
Sheikh Mohammed reaffirmed Qatar’s support for mediation efforts aimed at resolving the regional crisis through peaceful means and dialogue, according to a statement by Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.