- Brent jumps above $104 per barrel.
- Netanyahu demands the elimination of uranium.
- Foreign ships warned about Hormuz.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Sunday called Iran’s terms for ending the war in the Middle East “totally unacceptable,” raising the likelihood of a new conflict after weeks of negotiations.
Iran had responded to Washington’s latest peace proposal earlier in the day, warning that it would not refrain from retaliating against any new US attack or allow more foreign warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump himself did not provide details about Tehran’s counterproposal, but in a brief post on his Truth Social platform he made it clear that he rejected it.
“I just read the response from the so-called ‘representatives’ of Iran. I don’t like it, TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Trump said.
The back-and-forth came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose forces launched war against Iran alongside the U.S. military on Feb. 28, insisted that the conflict would not end until Iran’s enriched uranium was removed and its nuclear facilities dismantled.
Tehran publicly maintained its defiant line, despite behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
“We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, that does not mean surrender or withdrawal,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X program on Sunday.
According to the state broadcaster IRIBTehran’s response to the US plan, conveyed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war “on all fronts, especially in Lebanon” – where Israel has continued its fight with Hezbollah, backed by Iran – as well as “ensuring the security of maritime transport.”
He offered few details, although the US proposal had reportedly focused on extending the Gulf truce to allow for talks on a final solution to the conflict and on Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
The stalemate made global energy markets nervous, and oil prices opened sharply higher on Monday. International benchmark Brent crude rose 2.69% to $104.01 a barrel for July delivery.
Netanyahu said in an interview broadcast Sunday that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium must be eliminated before the war can end.
“This is not over, because there is still nuclear material – enriched uranium – that must be removed from Iran. There are still enrichment sites that must be dismantled,” Netanyahu said. C.B.S. “60 minutes.”
He added that Trump was on the same page about enriched uranium, although the president said in a recent interview that the United States could eliminate it “whenever we want” and that he was “very well guarded” where he is now.
Trump is expected to press President Xi Jinping of China, a major buyer of Iranian oil, on Iran when he visits Beijing next week, a senior US administration official said.
No ‘interference’ from Hormuz
Meanwhile The Wall Street JournalCiting people familiar with the matter, he said Iran laid out its own demands to Washington and proposed diluting some of its highly enriched uranium and transferring the rest to a third country.
In its response, delivered through mediator Pakistan, Iran sought guarantees that the transferred uranium would be returned if negotiations fail or Washington abandons the deal later, sources told the newspaper. Diary.
Trump did not mention those details in rejecting Iran’s response.
Iran imposed a blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz at the start of the war, sending global oil prices soaring and rattling financial markets.
It has since set up a payment mechanism to collect tolls from ships crossing the strait, but US officials have stressed that it would be “unacceptable” for Tehran to control an international waterway and the route for a fifth of the world’s oil and other vital materials.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is blockading Iran’s ports, sometimes crippling or diverting ships heading to and from them.
Britain and France are leading efforts to create an international coalition to secure the strait after a peace deal is reached, with both countries sending ships to the region ahead of time.
On Tuesday, the two countries will host a multinational meeting of defense ministers from more than 40 nations on military plans to restore trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the British government said.
But Iran warned on Sunday that Britain and France would encounter “a decisive and immediate response” if they deployed their ships to the strait.
“Only the Islamic Republic of Iran can establish security in this strait and will not allow any country to interfere in such matters,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.
French President Emmanuel Macron later insisted that his country had “never envisaged” a naval deployment in Hormuz, but rather a security mission “coordinated with Iran.”
‘Moderation is over’
Sunday’s new drone strikes in the Gulf were the latest to shake the ceasefire after multiple recent flare-ups.
The United Arab Emirates said its “air defense systems successfully attacked two unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Iran.”
Kuwait also reported an attempted attack and said its armed forces engaged “several hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace.”
And Qatar’s Defense Ministry said a cargo ship arriving in its waters from Abu Dhabi was hit by a drone.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but Iran’s government far The news agency reported that “the bulk carrier that was hit near the coast of Qatar was sailing under the American flag.”
In a social media post on Sunday, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s national security committee warned Washington: “Our restraint has ended as of today.”
“Any attack on our ships will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases,” Ebrahim Rezaei said.
