US president Donald Trump said yesterday that he was “not satisfied” with the latest Iranian proposal for talks on the Middle East war, while Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was ready for diplomacy, if the United States changes its approach.
Mr Trump’s comments came after Iranian state media and a Pakistani official said Iran had submitted its latest proposal for negotiations, raising some hope that a deadlock in efforts to end the war might be broken.
“They want to make a deal, but… I’m not satisfied with it,” Mr Trump told reporters as he left the White House for Florida, adding that the Iranian leadership was “very disjointed” and split into two or three groups.
Mr Trump praised Pakistan’s mediation efforts, saying negotiations by phone were continuing. “They’ve made strides, but I’m not sure if they ever get there,” Mr Trump said. “They’re asking for things that I can’t agree to.”
Global oil prices, which remain well above $100 a barrel, had eased following news of the Iranian proposal.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said his country was ready to pursue diplomacy if the US changes what he called its “excessive approach, threatening rhetoric and provocative actions.”
However, in a post on social media Mr Araghchi added that: “Iran’s armed forces remained ready to defend the country against any threat.”
The war, which began with US and Israeli attacking Iran on February 28, has led to the deaths of thousands of people, while the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused massive disruption to energy markets, choking off 20pc of the world’s oil and gas supplies.
The blockade of the vital sea channel has also increased concerns about the possibility of a wider economic downturn. The US navy is blocking exports of Iranian crude oil and American officials on Friday yesterday told shippers that they risked sanctions if they paid tolls to Iran to pass through the strait.
A ceasefire has been in place since April 8 but reports that Mr Trump was to be briefed on plans for new military strikes to compel Iran to negotiate had pushed oil prices up to a four-year high at one point on Thursday.
Iran has activated its air defences and plans a wide response if attacked, having assessed that there will be a short, intensive US strike, possibly followed by an Israeli attack, two senior Iranian sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
In response to US and Israeli strikes at the start of the war, Iran fired at American bases, infrastructure and US-linked companies in Gulf states, while the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel, which responded with strikes on Lebanon.
Mr Trump’s administration argued that the ceasefire with Iran had “terminated” hostilities as a legal deadline arrived on Friday yesterday for him making the case to the US Congress about the war.
A US official also told Reuters: “For War Powers Resolution purposes, the hostilities that began on Saturday, February 28, have terminated.”
On Thursday, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth argued the 60-day clock was paused under the ceasefire.
“We are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,” he said during a US Senate armed services committee hearing.
Mr Trump has repeated that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and that the price of petrol – an important concern for his Republican Party before mid-term elections in November – would drop sharply as soon as the war ended.
Iran has long demanded that the US acknowledge its right to enrich uranium, which Tehran says it seeks only for peaceful purposes – but which Western powers say is aimed at building nuclear weapons.
Asked yesterday about his options, Mr Trump saidon Friday: “Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever? Or do we want to try and make a deal?”
Asked if he wanted to blast the hell out of them, Mr Trump said: “On a human basis, I prefer not.”
China’s UN ambassador, Fu Cong, said on Fridayyesterday it was an urgent necessity to maintain the ceasefire and that the Strait of Hormuz needed to be reopened as quickly as possible. He said he was sure the strait would be high on the agenda if it is still closed when Mr Trump travels to China this month.
Saudi Arabia’s only official alcohol shop has run short of supplies, as the disruption caused by the Iran war has delayed shipments, visitors to the store said.
Officially Saudi Arabia’s 1952 blanket ban on alcohol remains in place, but the ultra-conservative kingdom has allowed one licensed shop as it tries to lure more expatriates.
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Situated in Riyadh’s diplomatic district, the shop has no name and no sign.
It opened in 2024 to serve non-Muslim diplomats and last year expanded to cater for wealthy non-Muslim foreign residents.
Reuters