DUBAI/TEL AVIV/ISLAMABAD, March 25 (Reuters) – Iran is considering a US proposal to end the war in the Persian Gulf, but has no intention of holding talks to end the growing conflict in the Middle East, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Minister Abbas Araqchi’s comments suggested Tehran’s willingness to negotiate an end to the war if its demands were met.
Still, exchanging messages through mediators “does not mean negotiations with the US,” he said on state television.
‘They presented ideas in their messages that were conveyed to high-ranking authorities and, if necessary, a position will be announced by them,’ Araqchi said.
US President Donald Trump’s 15-point proposal, sent through Pakistan, calls for removing Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles, halting enrichment, restricting its ballistic missile program and cutting funding to regional allies, according to three Israeli cabinet sources familiar with the plan.
The White House refused to reveal the details of its proposal and threatened to intensify its attacks.
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“If they don’t understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure that they are hit harder than they ever have been,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
A senior Israeli defense official said Israel was skeptical that Iran would agree to the terms and was concerned that US negotiators would make concessions. Israel also wants any deal to preserve its option to carry out pre-emptive strikes, a second source said.
MARKETS REACT POSITIVELY TO THE PROPOSAL
Global stock markets recovered some ground while oil prices fell on Wednesday following reports that Washington had sent the proposal to Iran, with investors hoping for an end to a war that has disrupted global energy supplies and risks fueling inflation.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is planning to send thousands of airborne troops to the Gulf to give Trump more options for ordering a ground attack, sources told Reuters, adding to two Marine contingents already on the way. The first unit of Marines, aboard a massive amphibious assault ship, could arrive around the end of the month.
Iran could open a new front at the mouth of the Red Sea if attacks are carried out on its territory, the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim said, citing an unnamed military source, on Wednesday. The source said Iran has the ability to pose a ‘credible threat’ in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which lies between Yemen and Djibouti.
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Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said his country would attack an unnamed neighboring country if it cooperated with ‘enemies’ efforts to occupy one of its islands.
Since the start of what the US calls Operation Epic Fury, Iran has attacked countries that host US bases and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned this Wednesday that the world is facing the possibility of a wider war.
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“It’s time to stop climbing the ladder of escalation — and start climbing the diplomatic ladder,” he said at UN headquarters in New York.
