Trump rejects Iran’s proposal to postpone the nuclear file
The White House spokesperson confirmed that Washington will not negotiate through the press and that it is clear about its red lines, in reference to the nuclear issue.
A US official said that President Donald Trump was not satisfied with Iran’s latest proposal to end the war that has been ongoing for two months, weakening hopes of reaching a resolution to the conflict, which has affected energy supply flows, fueled inflation, and caused the deaths of thousands.
The latest Iranian proposal calls for postponing discussion of Iran’s nuclear program until the war ends and maritime shipping disputes from the Gulf are resolved. The proposal is unlikely to satisfy Washington, which insists that nuclear issues must be addressed from the outset. A US official familiar with Trump’s meeting with his advisers on Monday, who requested anonymity, said the president was dissatisfied with Iran’s proposal for this reason.
White House spokesperson Olivia Wells said that the United States “will not negotiate through the press” and is “clear about our red lines,” as the Trump administration seeks to end the war against Iran that it began in February with Israel.
A previous agreement reached in 2015 between Iran and several other countries, including the United States, had significantly restricted Iran’s nuclear program, which Iran has consistently stated is for peaceful and civilian purposes. However, that agreement collapsed when Trump unilaterally withdrew from it during his first term.
Hopes of reviving peace efforts diminished when the president canceled the visit of his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to Islamabad, a city that Araghchi had visited twice consecutively at the start of the weekend.
The Iranian foreign minister also visited the Sultanate of Oman and headed to Russia on Monday, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received words of support from a long-time ally.
As the apparent gap between the parties to the conflict widens, oil prices resumed their rise, continuing gains in early Asian trading on Tuesday.
Fouad Razakzadeh, a market analyst at City Index and Forex.com, wrote in a note: “For oil traders, it is no longer rhetoric that matters, but the actual flow of crude through the Strait of Hormuz, and for now, that flow remains limited.”
Vessel tracking data showed that at least six tankers carrying Iranian oil were forced to return to Iran due to US control in recent days, confirming the war’s impact on maritime navigation.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned, in a social media post, US seizures of tankers linked to Iran, describing them as “a blatant legalization of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas.”
Between 125 and 140 ships used to pass through the strait daily before the war, but vessel tracking data from Kpler and satellite analysis from Cinemax indicate that only seven ships crossed it yesterday, none of which were carrying oil bound for the global market. Trump, facing declining popularity, is under domestic pressure to end a war for which he has not consistently maintained a clear position in the justifications presented to the American public.
Araghchi told reporters in Russia that the US president had requested negotiations because the United States had achieved none of its objectives.
Senior Iranian sources, who requested anonymity, said that the proposal presented by the Iranian minister in Islamabad at the start of the weekend includes phased talks that would initially exclude the nuclear issue.
The first step would be ending the US-Israeli war against Iran and securing guarantees that Washington would not reignite it. Negotiators would then work on lifting the US blockade on Iranian ports and defining the status of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran seeks to keep under its control after reopening it.
Only then would talks address other issues, including the long-standing dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran still seeks some form of US recognition of its right to enrich uranium.
