Tehran accused the US of “excessive demands,” Iranian media said yesterday, as US media reports raised the prospect that Washington was mulling new strikes and leaders of the Islamic republic considered the latest peace proposal.
Pakistani army chief Asim Munir arrived in Tehran on Friday to bolster mediation, while US President Donald Trump abruptly changed his plans to skip his son’s wedding to stay in Washington due to “circumstances pertaining to government,” fueling speculation that the situation had entered a sensitive stage.
Trump has described the stop-start negotiations this week as teetering on the “borderline” between renewed attacks and a deal to end the war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 and led to competing blockades around the strategic Strait of Hormuz that have roiled the global economy.
Photo: EPA / Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Weeks of negotiations since an April 8 ceasefire — including historic face-to-face talks hosted by Islamabad — have still not produced a permanent resolution or restored full access to the strait, choking vast quantities of global oil supply.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi said in a call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran was engaged in the diplomatic process despite “repeated betrayals of diplomacy and military aggression against Iran, along with contradictory positions and repeated excessive demands” by the US, the Iranian foreign ministry said.
US media outlets Axios and CBS News, citing unnamed sources, reported that the White House was considering strikes on Iran, although both added that a final decision had not been made yet.
Munir had met with Araghchi to discuss “the latest diplomatic efforts and initiatives aimed at preventing further escalation,” the IRNA news agency reported.
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei cautioned that the visit did not mean “we have reached a turning point or a decisive situation” with “deep and extensive” disagreements remaining, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.
A delegation from Qatar had also held talks with the Iranian foreign minister on Friday, Baqaei said.
The status of the Strait of Hormuz and a retaliatory US blockade of Iranian ports were also under discussion, he said. The future of the strategic maritime chokepoint remains a key sticking point, with fears growing that the global economy will suffer as pre-war oil stockpiles run down.
Fighting in Lebanon would need to stop, too, Baqaei said.
Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah have been clashing despite a ceasefire, with the latest strikes on Friday killing 10 people.
“The issue of ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, is very important,” Baqaei said.
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