President Trump on Sunday rejected Iran’s latest proposal to end the war with the United States, declaring it was “completely unacceptable.”
Mr Trump made the comments hours after the Iranian government said it had sent a counter-proposal to end the conflict after a tense week of attacks and reactions in the Persian Gulf that left a fragile truce between the countries. Details of Iran’s proposal were not made public, and Mr Trump did not say what was objectionable.
“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘representatives’,” he wrote in a post on his social media platform. “I don’t like it.”
Mr Trump’s rejection escalated the latest impasse in the effort to end the war and cast doubt on whether the impasse will be broken soon. However, the president has shown little appetite for resuming hostilities, especially ahead of meeting in Beijing this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose country has close ties with Iran.
The United States and Israel launched coordinated attacks on Iran on February 28, and Iran responded with attacks on neighboring Arab countries allied with Israel and the United States. Iran also closed the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Mr Trump last month declared an indefinite ceasefire and told Congress that hostilities between the two countries have “ended”, although they have continued their tense confrontation in the strait. In recent days, some Gulf countries have also reported drone attacks from Iran.
Mr Trump has said the United States served its military objectives by joining forces with Israel in the February bombing. But their ultimate goal of the war – to prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon – remains unfulfilled.
Mr Trump said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the United States was monitoring Iran’s remaining enriched uranium reserves, which could enable the country to build nuclear weapons, and that he would “get to it at some point.”
In the interview released by the syndicated news show “Full Measure”, he repeated a claim that the United States was monitoring sites that contained uranium. He warned that “if anyone comes close to that place, we will know about it and we will blow them up.” The president’s messaging on the importance of existing uranium reserves has been inconsistent: Last month, Mr. Trump said he did not care about uranium because it was buried “so far underground.”
Since the beginning of the ceasefire, Tehran and the United States have offered few details about their proposals. But on Thursday, as Iran was reviewing the United States’ latest offer, Mr Trump offered some specific details.
“It’s a proposal that basically says they will not have nuclear weapons,” he said. “They’re going to hand us nuclear dust and many other things we want.” The president often refers to Iran’s bomb-grade uranium as “dust”, although the material is stored in canisters, usually as a gas.
Mr Trump has said any deal remains incomplete because Iran lacks leadership after the United States and Israel killed most of the top ranks of the leadership.
Mr Trump and Iranian officials have also sent signals indicating a lack of trust between the two sides. Asked on Thursday whether Iran had agreed to the United States’ demand that it give up its nuclear ambitions, Mr Trump said he agreed, but added, “When they agree, it doesn’t mean much because the next day they forget.”
The president also warned that if Iran did not agree to the latest deal, it would “suffer a lot.”
He rejected the Iranian proposal after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that the conflict with Iran “is not over.” He said this happened because Iran had not yet given up material that Israel feared could one day be used to make a nuclear weapon.
Last week, the White House tried to portray the military operation, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” as actually being over. But in the “Full Measure” interview, Mr Trump said it would be wrong to say combat operations were over.
“No, I didn’t say that,” Mr. Trump said, adding that Iran “has lost, but that doesn’t mean they have lost.”
Mr Trump had hoped the conflict would be resolved by the time he travels to China to meet Mr Xi, who is keen to end the conflict in Iran, China’s closest partner in the Middle East. The war caused a global energy crisis and led to the removal of US military assets from Asia. It has also drained American weapons, raising doubts among some Chinese analysts about the United States’ ability to defend Taiwan, Washington’s close partner.
According to Iran’s state broadcaster, Iranian negotiators have given their response to Pakistani mediators, who are mediating the talks.
Iranian officials have said the two countries are working on a short-term agreement that would halt fighting for the next 30 days and end Iran’s blockade of the strait. Officials said the United States and Iran would try to reach a comprehensive agreement during the one-month peace.
Intermittent clashes across the region over the past week have underlined the weakness of the ceasefire – which analysts have dubbed a “no war, no peace” situation.
On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said it was again attacked by Iranian drones, following several Iranian attacks last week. The US military said US warships had also fired on military facilities off Iran’s coast following the attack last week.
Lily Kuo Contributed to the reporting.
