WASHINGTON- The Trump administration has offered Iran a 15-point ceasefire plan aimed at temporarily stopping the war in the Middle East, while the Pentagon simultaneously orders thousands of Marines, paratroopers and a warship to the region.
The plan presented to Iranian leaders on Tuesday broadly included a 30-day ceasefire and sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for a long list of U.S. demands, according to the Associated Press and other media.
But the Islamic Republic dismissed the proposal on Wednesday, criticizing the White House's terms as “excessive” and out of step with reality, according to Iranian state media.
Those terms included limitations on Tehran's missile stockpile and a permanent end to its nuclear program, its support for regional militias including Hezbollah, and the lifting of its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, several media outlets reported, citing Pakistani officials who mediated the negotiations.
Several of those provisions have long been considered impossible for Iran, which views its missile arsenal and regional alliances as critical to national security.
“Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met,” an Iranian official told state media. “Not when Trump foresees its conclusion.”
The official outlined the Islamic Republic's terms for ending the conflict, which included a cessation of “aggression and killings,” an end to fighting on all fronts, enforceable guarantees that hostilities will not resume, compensation for war damages, and a formal recognition of Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has stated that Iran is not interested in a ceasefire but rather a comprehensive “end to the war” on all fronts, including the lifting of sanctions and guarantees that allow Tehran to pursue peaceful nuclear enrichment for energy and medical applications.
Iranian officials told state media they believed the Trump administration's diplomatic efforts were misleading.
“You have reached a stage where you are negotiating among yourselves,” Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said in a televised speech on Wednesday. “Do not call your defeat an agreement.”
Since the start of the conflict, Iranian leaders have expressed suspicion about any diplomatic talks with the Trump administration, pointing to pre-war diplomatic efforts as evidence that they were “deceived.” The Islamic Republic says it made clear in those talks that it had no interest in developing nuclear weapons, but President Trump launched his military campaign anyway.
There have been conflicting reports in the media about Tehran's exact position. Statements from Iranian officials and state-linked media have left open the possibility that elements of the proposal are still under review, while some reports frame the response as an outright rejection.
The Iranian response also conflicts with Trump's insistence that negotiations were progressing.
“We've had very, very solid conversations,” he said Sunday in Florida. “We have points, important points of agreement. I would say that almost all the points of agreement will be found at some point very, very soon.”
Compounding the situation, Israel, which continues to carry out routine bombing campaigns on Iran, has stayed away from the talks.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the peace deal in a phone call on Tuesday. In a televised speech, Netanyahu said Trump “believes there is an opportunity” to achieve US-Israeli war goals in a deal “that will safeguard our vital interests.”
“At the same time, we continue to attack both in Iran and in Lebanon,” Netanyahu said. “We will safeguard our vital interests in any scenario.”
Asked whether the White House is confident that Israel and its allies would accept a U.S.-brokered deal, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president has proven to have a “unique ability” to get allies on board with his plans, but did not indicate whether Netanyahu has committed to a ceasefire.
On Monday, Trump briefly hinted at American demands on the Iranian government, saying that if the United States reaches a deal with Iran, taking its enriched uranium would be “very easy.”
“If we have an agreement with them, we will go down and accept it ourselves,” he said.
The president also hopes the peace talks will give the United States a say in who controls the Strait of Hormuz. Asked who would oversee the vital sea route after the war, he said “maybe me,” but also that it could be “jointly controlled” by him and “whoever the ayatollah is” in the future.
The negotiations are being facilitated by Pakistan, with support from Egypt and Turkey, countries that have pushed to contain a conflict that has killed more than 2,400 people, further destabilized the beleaguered region and disrupted global oil markets.
As Washington sought a diplomatic end to the conflict, the Pentagon deployed 2,000 additional troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East. Another 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors are already en route to the region, where 50,000 more Marines are stationed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Wednesday that the deployment “sends a signal to Iran that they need to get their act together,” but denied any upcoming escalation by the U.S. side. Johnson, on the other hand, said he believes “Operation Epic Fury is almost done.”
Now in its fourth week, the operation began with a series of intense airstrikes that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of other high-ranking officials. Since then, the United States and Israel have carried out more than 9,000 attacks against Iran's military infrastructure and nuclear program.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that as the president's diplomatic envoys seek a peace deal, his department will continue to “negotiate with bombs.”
“The president has made it clear that they will not have a nuclear weapon. The War Department agrees,” Hegseth said. “Our job is to ensure that, and that's why we keep our hand on the accelerator.”
Iranian retaliatory attacks have hit Persian Gulf infrastructure and halted energy production and transportation in the region, sparking global fears of a lasting supply crisis. Meanwhile, Israel has expanded its operations in Iran and sought to expand its borders into Lebanon.
Oil prices, which had topped $120 a barrel at the start of the conflict, fell sharply this week on hopes that a ceasefire could ease supply problems.
In a statement Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres demanded an end to the fighting, which he said “has surpassed the limits that even leaders thought imaginable.”
He specifically called on the United States and Israel to end the war, as “human suffering deepens, civilian casualties increase, and the global economic impact becomes increasingly devastating.”
Times writers Ana Ceballos in Washington and Nabih Bulos in Beirut contributed to this report.
