Negotiations with Iran again reached a dead end over the weekend after Tehran refused to make significant concessions on its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal.
Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another.
The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it.<\/p>\n
\u2014 \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f\u0628\u0627\u0642\u0631 \u0642\u0627\u0644\u06cc\u0628\u0627\u0641 | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) May 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Trump said<\/a> on Monday Iran\u2019s response was a \u201cpiece of garbage\u201d and that the current ceasefire was \u201cunbelievably weak.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The US president claimed that Iranian negotiators told their American counterparts that they were prepared for the US to retrieve Tehran\u2019s stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium, but then refrained from putting that concession in the response paper submitted over the weekend. Iran has shown no public indication that it is prepared to make such a concession.<\/p>\n Trump also told Fox News on Monday that he is considering renewing the operation to assist stuck ships out of the Iran-blocked Strait of Hormuz after he called it off last week, about a day after it began. He told the TV station that if he decides to renew Project Freedom, it would \u201conly be a piece\u201d of a larger military operation.<\/p>\n The US has been blockading Iran\u2019s ports, as Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of the talks as well; while there is technically a truce in place there, it has largely unraveled.<\/a><\/p>\n While Iran has warned against a global effort to open the Hormuz, the United Kingdom and France announced they will host a multinational meeting<\/a> on Tuesday of more than 40 defense ministers, on military plans to restore trade flows through the strait.<\/p>\n Trump on Monday held a high-level security meeting in the White House Situation Room to discuss next steps on Iran, a US official told The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n \t Participants in Monday\u2019s meeting include Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.<\/p>\n Channel 12 reported, citing two senior US officials, that Trump is considering renewed military action to increase pressure on Iran, with one official quoted as saying: \u201cTrump is going to hit them a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n Separately, US officials told CBS News that Pakistan has been providing a safe haven for Iranian military aircraft, even as it acted as a mediator between Tehran and Washington in an attempt to reach a permanent ceasefire.<\/p>\n The report said that shortly after Trump announced a ceasefire in early April, Islamabad allowed Iranian military aircraft to seek refuge at its airbases, seemingly to prevent them from being struck by the US military.<\/p>\n Israel, which launched the military campaign against Iran jointly with the US six weeks ago, is not represented at the talks. Host Pakistan has no diplomatic ties with Israel and does not recognize its sovereignty.<\/p>\n The ceasefire declared by Trump in April came with core declared goals of the war unfulfilled, including ensuring that Iran does not attain nuclear weapons, destroying its missile program, and creating the conditions for the Iranian public to overthrow the regime.<\/p>\n \t US sanctions firms, individuals for aiding Iran\u2019s oil trade with China<\/p>\n The US government on Monday announced sanctions against three people and nine companies, including four based in Hong Kong and four in the United Arab Emirates, for aiding Iran\u2019s shipment of oil to China. The ninth company is based in Oman.<\/p>\n The US Treasury move follows sanctions announced on Friday on individuals and companies aiding Iranian purchases of weapons and components used to make drones and ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n It came days before Trump\u2019s planned meeting with Xi Jinping, where he is expected to press the Chinese leader to help resolve the standoff with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n Treasury said the new designations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) were aimed at individuals and entities that helped Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sell and ship its allotment of Iranian oil to China using a series of front companies.<\/p>\n Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would keep using sanctions to deprive the Iranian government and military of funding for weapons, its nuclear program, or support for proxies in the region.<\/p>\n \t \u201cTreasury will continue to cut the Iranian regime off from the financial networks it uses to carry out terrorist acts and to destabilize the global economy,\u201d Bessent said.<\/p>\n The State Department also announced a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of the IRGC, which is designated by Washington as a terrorist organization, and its branches.<\/p>\n Treasury said the IRGC relies on shell companies to arrange and receive payment for its allotment of Iranian oil shipments. It said Monday\u2019s action builds on sanctions imposed in July 2025 on Golden Globe, a Turkey-based company that Treasury said handles hundreds of millions of dollars in IRGC oil sales annually.<\/p>\n Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner for members of his administration and law enforcement organization leaders, during National Police Week, in the White House Rose Garden, in Washington, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26093357403020-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA residential building damaged by recent US-Israeli strikes is seen in Fardis, west of Tehran, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26089780850096-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tTwo women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a US-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises into the sky in Tehran, Iran on March 8, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n
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