- The US says nuclear issues must be addressed from the start.
- Trump is unhappy with delaying the deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
- Iran demands the blockade be lifted before negotiations begin.
US President Donald Trump is unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal to resolve the two-month war, a US official said, dampening hopes for a resolution to the conflict that has disrupted energy supplies, fueled inflation and killed thousands.
Iran’s latest proposal would set aside discussion of Iran’s nuclear program until the war is over and disputes over shipping from the Gulf are resolved.
That is unlikely to satisfy the United States, which says nuclear issues must be dealt with from the start, and Trump was unhappy with Iran’s proposal for that reason, said a U.S. official briefed on the president’s Monday meeting with his advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the US “will not negotiate through the press” and has “been clear about our red lines” as the Trump administration looks to end the war on Iran it started in February with Israel.
An earlier deal in 2015 between Iran and several other countries including the United States sharply curtailed Iran’s nuclear program, which it has long maintained is for peaceful, civilian purposes. But that deal fell apart when Trump unilaterally pulled out of it during his first term in office.
Hopes of reviving peace efforts have dwindled since the US president scrapped a visit planned for last weekend by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Islamabad, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi shuttled in and out twice over the weekend.
Araqchi also visited Oman and on Monday went to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received words of support from a longtime ally.
Oil prices are rising again
With the warring sides still seemingly far apart, oil prices resumed their upward march, extending gains in early Asian trade on Tuesday.
“For oil traders, it’s not the rhetoric that matters anymore, but the actual physical flow of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and right now that flow remains constrained,” Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, said in a note.
At least six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the US blockade in recent days, ship tracking data showed, underscoring the war’s impact on traffic.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned US seizures of Iran-linked tankers as “direct legalization of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas”, in a social media post.
Between 125 and 140 ships usually crossed in and out of the strait daily before the war, but only seven have done so in the past 24 hours, according to Kpler ship-tracking data and satellite analysis from SynMax, and none of them were carrying oil bound for the global market.
As his approval ratings plummet, Trump faces domestic pressure to end a war for which he has given the American public shifting justifications.
Araqchi told reporters in Russia that Trump had requested negotiations because the United States has not met any of its goals.
Senior Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the proposal Araqchi had put forward to Islamabad over the weekend envisaged negotiations in stages, with the nuclear issue set aside at the outset.
A first step would require ending the US-Israeli war against Iran and providing guarantees that the US cannot start it up again. Then negotiators would resolve the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iran’s seaborne trade and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran aims to reopen under its control.
Only then would the talks look at other issues, including the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, where Iran is still seeking some form of US recognition of its right to enrich uranium.
