Trump says Iranian response to US peace proposal 'totally unacceptable'

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Sunday rejected Iran’s response to the latest US peace proposal for ending the Middle East war as “totally unacceptable”, raising the likelihood of renewed conflict in the Arabian Gulf after weeks of hectic diplomacy to resolve the standoff that has throttled shipping and sent energy prices soaring. Oil prices jumped $3 a barrel on Monday following news of the continued stalemate that leaves the narrow Strait of Hormuz largely closed. Before the war the waterway carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and has emerged as one of the central pressure points in the war. According to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran’s response to the US plan, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war “on all fronts, especially Lebanon” as well as on “ensuring shipping security.” Tehran also included a demand for compensation for war damages and emphasized Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state TV said. It also called on the US to end its naval blockade, guarantee no further attacks, lift sanctions and end a US ban on Iranian oil sales, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said. Within hours, Trump dismissed Iran’s proposal with a post on social media. “I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, ⁠without giving further detail. The US had proposed an end to fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear program. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Iran laid out its own demands to Washington and proposed to have some of its highly enriched uranium diluted, and the rest transferred to a third country. In its response, Iran sought guarantees that the transferred uranium will be returned if negotiations fail or Washington quits the agreement later, sources told the Journal. Surveys show the war is unpopular with US voters facing sharply higher gasoline prices less than six months before nationwide elections that will determine whether Trump’s Republican party retains control of Congress. The US has also found little international support, with NATO allies refusing calls to send ships to open the Strait of Hormuz without a full peace deal and an internationally mandated mission. It’s not clear what fresh diplomatic or military steps may be ahead. Trump is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday. With mounting pressure to draw a line under the war and the global energy crisis it has ignited, Iran is among topics Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to ‌discuss. Trump has ⁠been leaning on China to use its influence to push Tehran to make a deal with Washington. Addressing whether combat operations against Iran were over, Trump said in remarks aired on Sunday: “They are defeated, but that doesn’t mean they’re done.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war was not over because there was “more work to be done” to remove enriched uranium from Iran, dismantle enrichment sites and address Iran’s proxies and ballistic missile capabilities. The best way to remove the enriched uranium would be through diplomacy, Netanyahu said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.” But he did ⁠not rule out removing it by force. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post that Iran would “never bow down to the enemy” and would “defend national interests with strength.” Despite a month-old ceasefire in the conflict and after some 48 hours of relative calm amid diplomatic efforts to break the deadlock, hostile drones were detected over several Gulf countries on Sunday, underlining ‌the threat to shipping lanes and the economies of the region remained high. On Sunday, ⁠the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two drones coming from Iran, while Qatar condemned a drone attack that hit a cargo ship coming from Abu Dhabi in its waters. Kuwait said its air defenses had dealt with hostile drones that entered its airspace. Kuwait reported an attempted attack as well, saying its armed forces dealt with “a number of hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Iran’s Fars news agency reported that “the bulk carrier that was struck near the coast of Qatar was sailing under a US flag.” In a social media post on Sunday, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s national security commission warned Washington: “Our restraint is over as of today.” “Any attack on our vessels will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases,” Ebrahim Rezaei said. Still, the QatarEnergy-operated carrier Al Kharaitiyat passed safely through the strait and was heading for Pakistan’s Port Qasim, according to data ‌from ⁠shipping analytics firm Kpler. ⁠It was the first Qatari vessel carrying liquefied natural gas to cross the strait since the US and Israel started the war on February 28. In addition, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier bound for Brazil that had previously attempted to transit the strait on May 4 passed through, using a route designated by Iran’s armed forces, Tasnim reported on Sunday. Iran imposed a blockade on the vital Strait of Hormuz early in the war, sending global oil prices soaring and rattling financial markets. It has since set up a payment mechanism to extract tolls from ships crossing the strait, but US officials have stressed 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. The US Navy, meanwhile, is blockading Iran’s ports, at times disabling 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 vessels to the region in advance. But Iran warned Sunday that the two nations would meet “a decisive and immediate response” should they deploy their ships to the strait. “Only the Islamic Republic of Iran can establish security in this strait and it will not allow any country to interfere in such matters,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X. According to Iranian state television, Tehran’s military chief Ali Abdollahi met the country’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and received “new directives and guidance for the continuation of operations to confront the enemy.” French President Emmanuel Macron later insisted his country had “never envisaged” a naval deployment in Hormuz, but rather a security mission “coordinated with Iran.” Clashes have also continued in southern Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, despite a ⁠US-brokered ceasefire announced on April 16. An end to hostilities with Iran would not necessarily bring an end to the war in Lebanon, Netanyahu said in the “60 Minutes” interview, in which he also said Israeli planners had underestimated Iran’s ability to choke off traffic through the Hormuz Strait. “It took a while for them to understand how big that risk is, which they understand now,” he said.