Tehran handed its response to the latest US proposal to Pakistan on Sunday for delivery to Washington. Hours later, President Donald Trump dismissed the Iranian reply as \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d and warned Monday that \u201cthe ceasefire is on life support.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exchange has fueled growing expectations in Iranian media and political circles that another military confrontation may be approaching, even as officials insist they remain open to diplomacy on their own terms.<\/p>\n
Arash, a 45-year-old engineer in Tehran, said many people were once again preparing for the possibility of war.<\/p>\n
\u201cFilling gasoline tanks and stocking up on food and water for emergencies has again become a priority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tehran rejects key US conditions<\/p>\n
Iranian state-linked media strongly denied Western reports suggesting Tehran\u2019s response included compromises on nuclear issues.<\/p>\n
Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), rejected claims that Iran\u2019s proposal addressed the future of its nuclear materials or enrichment activities.<\/p>\n
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB described the American proposal as \u201cmeaning Iran\u2019s surrender to Trump\u2019s excessive demands.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to IRIB, Iran\u2019s counterproposal emphasized compensation for war damages, recognition of Iran\u2019s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen Iranian assets.<\/p>\n
Former IRGC commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said Monday that no further negotiations would take place unless Iran\u2019s conditions were met.<\/p>\n
Mixed signals<\/p>\n
President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a more conciliatory tone during a meeting with senior police commanders on Sunday.<\/p>\n
While acknowledging deep distrust toward Washington, Pezeshkian said Iran would remain committed to any agreement reached \u201cwhile taking into account the concerns of the Supreme Leader and the interests of the Iranian nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rational, logical and nationally beneficial preference is for the victory achieved by the armed forces on the battlefield to be completed in diplomacy as well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei also said Monday that Tehran\u2019s proposal was \u201creasonable and generous,\u201d but accused Washington of continuing to insist on \u201cunreasonable demands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baghaei said Iran\u2019s immediate priority was ending the war rather than negotiating details of the nuclear program, adding that decisions regarding \u201cthe nuclear issue, enriched materials and enrichment itself\u201d would be announced later \u201cat the appropriate time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some hardline figures, however, are increasingly arguing that Iran should openly pursue nuclear weapons capability as a deterrent against future attacks.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for parliament\u2019s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said lawmakers had questioned the value of remaining in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and stressed the need to preserve Iran\u2019s nuclear \u201cachievements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Limited optimism<\/p>\n
Despite the dominance of hardline rhetoric in official circles, online reactions suggested skepticism toward maximalist demands and calls for escalation.<\/p>\n
Under a commentary published by Alef News listing Iran\u2019s conditions, one reader wrote sarcastically: \u201cDo not expect them to accept all these conditions unless you completely defeat them and even take prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another commented: \u201cThese are a list of wishes, and nobody is asking what they would receive in return.\u201d<\/p>\n
The skeptical comments drew significantly more support from readers than hardline calls for confrontation.<\/p>\n
State television has repeatedly discussed the possibility of renewed fighting, often portraying another conflict as likely but manageable.<\/p>\n
Reformist website Rouydad24 wrote that \u201cthe political atmosphere inside Iran is not favorable to a quick agreement,\u201d arguing that hardline factions view any retreat as surrender while the government is trying to avoid appearing weak without securing sanctions relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor now,\u201d the outlet concluded, \u201cthe most likely scenario is not a comprehensive agreement but continued attritional negotiations combined with temporary ceasefires and crisis management\u2014a situation that is neither full peace nor total war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tehran handed its response to the latest US proposal to Pakistan on Sunday for delivery to Washington. Hours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[34,67,63,60,61,64,58,62,59,65,49,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-109438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-iran-and-china","10":"tag-iran-covid","11":"tag-iran-economy","12":"tag-iran-government","13":"tag-iran-media-iran-and-the-united-states","14":"tag-iran-news","15":"tag-iran-nuclear","16":"tag-iran-politics","17":"tag-iran-us","18":"tag-middle-east","19":"tag-us-sanctions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116559438300189590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}