{"id":951130,"date":"2026-05-10T20:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T20:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/951130\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T20:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T20:21:14","slug":"iran-sends-response-to-latest-us-peace-proposal-as-netanyahu-insists-war-not-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/951130\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran sends response to latest US peace proposal as Netanyahu insists war ‘not over’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran on Sunday handed over its response to the latest US peace proposal<\/a>, local media reported, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the war is \u201cnot over,\u201d despite US President Donald Trump\u2019s apparent desire to end hostilities and insistence that Iran had been roundly defeated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be noted that the main focus of Iran\u2019s response to the US proposal is on \u2018ending the war and maritime security\u2019 in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d Iran\u2019s ISNA news agency said, without offering further details, shortly after Tehran said it had delivered its answer to Pakistani mediators.<\/p>\n

The US proposal, if Iran agrees to it, will formally end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz before beginning talks on more contentious issues, including the Iranian nuclear program.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s response to the US proposal included a demand for the Islamic Republic to maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen news outlet reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

The Iranian response also stipulated that the US must lift all oil-related sanctions and release any frozen Iranian funds, the outlet reported.\u00a0Sources told the Arabic outlet that, for the time being, negotiations will continue to take place only as written communiques transmitted via Iranian mediators.<\/p>\n

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Hours later, Trump \u2014 without directly acknowledging the Iranian response \u2014 accused Tehran of \u201cplaying games\u201d in negotiations with the US for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years,\u201d Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform, before criticizing the Iran policies of former US presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will be laughing no longer!\u201d Trump added, signaling dissatisfaction with Tehran\u2019s response in the talks, which have been unfruitful for weeks.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tUS President Donald Trump waves to reporters as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival to the White House, May 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/p>\n

Trump had previously said he was expecting Iran\u2019s reply by Friday, but the wait dragged on, and the ceasefire came under increasing strain Sunday, with Iran apparently firing<\/a> several drones at Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.<\/p>\n

Apparently preparing the country for the possibility of an agreement, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X: \u201cWe will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat.<\/p>\n

Tehran\u2019s military chief Ali Abdollahi, meanwhile, met the country\u2019s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and received \u201cnew directives and guidance for the continuation of operations to confront the enemy,\u201d according to Iranian state television.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tAn Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel mural painted on a wall in Tehran, Iran, on May 10, 2026. (ATTA KENARE \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Netanyahu says war \u2018not over\u2019<\/p>\n

Netanyahu, in an interview with the CBS newsmagazine program, \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d insisted that the war is not over, as there remained in Iran\u2019s possession enriched uranium that \u201chas to be taken out\u201d of the country, and broader \u201cwork to be done\u201d against its military capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce. Now, we\u2019ve degraded a lot of it, but all that is still there, and there\u2019s work to be done,\u201d he said in a clip previewed from the interview, which was set to air in full later Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu did not initially specify whether he referred only to Iran\u2019s stockpile of highly enriched near-weapons-grade uranium \u2014 believed to be buried underground in Isfahan \u2014 or its full supply of enriched uranium. Asked how the highly enriched material should be removed, he responded: \u201cYou go in, and you take it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think it accomplished a great deal, but it\u2019s not over,\u201d Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells 60 Minutes about the war in Iran. Netanyahu says highly enriched uranium must be removed from Iran and believes \u201cit can be done physically.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/N5XbvzpYa0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The premier suggested that the uranium can be physically removed with or without an agreement with Tehran, and that the US is on board with either option, though he declined to discuss any military plans or timeline for such an operation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat President Trump has said to me: \u2018I wanna go in there.\u2019 And I think it can be done physically. That\u2019s not the problem. If you have an agreement and you go in and you take it out, why not? That\u2019s the best way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked if it can be taken out by force if no agreement is reached, Netanyahu replied: \u201cWell, you\u2019re gonna ask me these questions, I\u2019m gonna dodge them, because I\u2019m not gonna talk about our military possibilities\u2026 I\u2019m not gonna give a timetable to it, but I\u2019m gonna say that\u2019s a terrifically important mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Netanyahu is publicly insistent that the conflict with Iran will continue as long as the enriched uranium remains in the country, Trump has suggested otherwise, saying in an interview aired Sunday that Iran was \u201cmilitarily defeated\u201d and insisting that the uranium could be removed \u201cwhenever we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get that at some point, whenever we want,\u201d he told independent television journalist Sharyl Attkisson in an interview apparently recorded earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have that very well surveilled. If anybody got near the place, we will know about it, and we\u2019ll blow them up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThis handout satellite image, courtesy of Vantor, shows the Natanz Nuclear Facility near Natanz, Isfahan province, in central Iran on March 7, 2026. (Satellite image \u00a92026 Vantor \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

However, Trump reserved the possibility of resumed strikes, saying that\u00a0the US military could \u201cgo in for two more weeks and do every single target. We have certain targets that we wanted, and we\u2019ve done probably 70 percent of them, but we have other targets that we could conceivably hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut even if we didn\u2019t do that, you know, that would just be final touches,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Iran has some 440 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA believes roughly 200 kilograms (about 440 pounds) is stored in tunnels at the Isfahan site.<\/p>\n

The Iranian stockpile could allow the country to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, the head of the agency said last year.<\/p>\n

Tehran, which avowedly seeks Israel\u2019s destruction, has long insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, but has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application.<\/p>\n

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