US President Donald Trump has said Iran is desperate for a ceasefire, while Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran is reviewing the US offer but no talks are planned, Reuters reports.
The conflicting statements come amid ongoing hostilities that have already caused fuel shortages in some places, raised energy prices and caused concern around the world. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there have been no talks with the US, but that messages are being passed through intermediaries. In an interview with state television, Araghchi said that statements and warnings that are being passed through countries friendly to Iran do not constitute talks or dialogue. Trump, in turn, told the audience in Washington that Iranian leaders are engaged in talks and are desperate to reach an agreement. At the same time, the regime fears that they will be killed by their own people, and also fears that the Americans will kill them.
Trump did not name the individuals with whom the United States is negotiating. Since the United States and Israel launched strikes on the 28th of February, many leaders and senior officials of the Tehran regime have been killed. Iran has responded with attacks on Israel and American-friendly Gulf states. The first to be killed in the attacks was Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and his son Mojtaba Khamenei, who was also injured in the strikes and has barely been seen in public since being appointed Supreme Leader, took his place.
After Pakistan made such a request to Washington, Israel removed Araghchi and the speaker of the Iranian parliament from the list of targets. A source close to the situation in Pakistan said that Israel knew the whereabouts of the foreign minister and speaker and wanted to kill them, but that the US had told Pakistan that after their deaths there would be no one to negotiate with.
That is why the US has ordered Israel to refrain from killing these officials.
A spokesman for the Iranian embassy in Islamabad said that talks in the Pakistani capital were still possible and that Tehran would prefer this location, but nothing had been decided yet.
The consequences of the conflict, which has caused the worst energy shock in history, have spread far beyond the Middle East. Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil and natural gas exports from the Persian Gulf, remain blocked, and fuel prices have skyrocketed. Businesses including airlines, trading companies and used car dealers are struggling to cope with the challenges of rising costs, falling demand and disruptions in supply chains. Some governments have already considered similar support measures during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The CEO of Abu Dhabi’s state oil company ADNOC called Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz an act of economic terrorism.
Sources in the Israeli cabinet said that
the 15-point peace plan, which was passed through Pakistan, also calls for opening the Strait of Hormuz to traffic.
The US also demands that Tehran give up its stockpile of enriched uranium, reduce its ballistic missile program, and end its funding of terrorist groups in the region. The White House declined to provide further details about the peace plan.
A senior Israeli defense official said that Iran’s agreement to the demands was unlikely, and Israel was concerned that the Americans would have to give up some points.
Iran, in turn, demanded that Lebanon be included in the ceasefire agreement.
Hopes for a resolution to the conflict began to fade on the morning of the 26th of March, and the price of oil on international markets has begun to rise again. Given the stock market slump, rising fuel prices and his own rapidly declining popularity, Trump has a strong need to find a solution before the conflict slips further out of US control, with midterm elections due in November.
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