Tehran has kept the pressure on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors, despite U.S. and Israeli insistence that\u00a0Iran\u2019s military capabilities<\/a>\u00a0have been all but destroyed. In a sign that part of Iran\u2019s theocracy could be willing to negotiate, the country\u2019s former top diplomat published a proposal for ending the conflict in an influential American magazine.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its\u00a0tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s ability to\u00a0wreak havoc<\/a>\u00a0in the global economy has proved a major strategic advantage, and world leaders have struggled to figure out how to reopen the waterway. The U.N. Security Council was expected to look at a new proposal.<\/p>\n Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ohad Zwigenberg)\n<\/p>\n A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Emilio Morenatti)\n<\/p>\n Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ohad Zwigenberg)\n<\/p>\n Show Caption<\/p>\n 1 of 3<\/p>\n Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ohad Zwigenberg)\n<\/p>\n Expand<\/a> Former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif \u2014 a diplomat with long experience negotiating with the West who remains close to a pragmatic wing of Iran\u2019s leadership \u2014 wrote on Friday that the time has come to end the suffering.<\/p>\n \u201cProlonged hostility will cause a greater loss of precious lives and irreplaceable resources without actually altering the existing stalemate,\u201d Zarif, who helped negotiate Iran\u2019s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine.<\/p>\n The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan for a ceasefire that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, dismantling Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities and limiting its missile production in exchange for sanctions relief. But no signs of progress were apparent in the diplomatic effort.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s initial five-point counterproposal aired by hard-line state television included recognizing Iran\u2019s sovereignty over the strait, the removal of U.S. bases from the region, compensation for war damage, and a guarantee against further aggression \u2014 all things likely unpalatable to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Zarif\u2019s proposal included elements of both of the plans.<\/p>\n Iran \u201cshould offer to place limits on its nuclear program and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions \u2014 a deal Washington wouldn\u2019t take before but might accept now,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Tehran and Washington were in talks about Iran\u2019s nuclear program when the U.S. and Israel began bombing on Feb. 28 \u2014 the second time under President Donald Trump that the U.S. has attacked while in negotiations.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear how much to read into Zarif\u2019s proposal. While he has no official position in Iran\u2019s government, he helped get reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian elected and would likely not have published such a piece without at least some authorization from senior leaders.<\/p>\n But it also remains clear who in Iran has the authority to negotiate since many leaders have been killed in the war. Immediately after the piece came out, Zarif wrote he had been \u201ctorn\u201d about it \u2014 a sign he may already face pressure at home.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, it\u2019s not clear how Trump will respond. He has vacillated between saying the U.S. is negotiating an end to the war and threatening to expand it. Thousands of U.S. Marines and paratroopers have been ordered to the region, raising speculation that there could be a ground offensive.<\/p>\n Iran targets a desalination plant and a refinery<\/p>\n Kuwait\u2019s Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery came under Iranian attack, and the state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said firefighters were working to control several blazes.<\/p>\n Kuwait also said that an Iranian attack caused \u201cmaterial damage\u201d to a desalination plant. Such plants are responsible for most of the drinking water for Gulf states, and they have become a major target in the war.<\/p>\n Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed several Iranian drones, and Israel reported incoming missiles.<\/p>\n Authorities in the United Arab Emirates shut down a gas field after a missile interception reportedly rained debris on it and started a fire.<\/p>\n Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan, but it wasn\u2019t immediately clear what was hit. A day earlier, Iran said the U.S. hit a major bridge, which was still under construction,\u00a0killing eight people<\/a>.<\/p>\n More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war. In a review released Friday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a U.S-based group, said they found that civilian casualties were clustered around strikes on security and state-linked sites \u201crather than indiscriminate bombardment\u201d of urban areas.<\/p>\n More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S.\u00a0service members<\/a>\u00a0have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.<\/p>\n More than 1,300 people\u00a0have been killed<\/a>\u00a0and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion in its fight with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militant group. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.<\/p>\n UN Security Council to take up Strait of Hormuz security question<\/p>\n Spot prices of Brent crude<\/a>, the international standard, were around $109 Friday, up more than 50% since the start of the war, when Iran began restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Israel_Iran_War_44456.jpg\"\/)
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\nIran\u2019s former top diplomat suggests terms to end the war<\/p>\n