- Trump blames Iranian leaders for stalled negotiations.
- The president of the United States says he prefers the peaceful option to a strike.
- Iran says it wants talks but rejects “imposed” peace terms.
US President Donald Trump said he was “not satisfied” with a new Iranian negotiating proposal, as peace talks remain frozen despite a weeks-long ceasefire.
Iran handed over the draft to mediator Pakistan on Thursday night, the IRNA the news agency reported, without detailing its content.
“Right now I'm not satisfied with what they're offering,” Trump told reporters, blaming the stalled talks on “tremendous discord” within Iran's leadership.
“Do we want to go and just destroy them and be done with them forever, or do we want to try to make a deal?” he added, saying he would “prefer not” to take the first option “for human reasons.”
The war, launched by the United States and Israel with surprise attacks on February 28, has been on hold since April 8, and only one round of direct talks has failed since.
Trump, under domestic pressure to seek congressional authorization for war, wrote to lawmakers on Friday declaring hostilities “over,” even though there was no change in the U.S. military posture.
The Pentagon later said the United States would withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany over the next year after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said this week that Iran was “humiliating” Washington at the negotiating table.
Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, choking off important flows of oil, gas and fertilizer, while the United States has imposed a counterblockade on Iranian ports.
Despite the stalemate, the ceasefire held, but fighting continued in other parts of the region.
On the Lebanese front, Israel has continued deadly attacks despite a ceasefire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in mid-April that sought to halt more than six weeks of fighting.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said 13 people were killed in attacks in the south, including the town of Habboush, where the Israeli army had issued an evacuation order shortly before the attack.
Meanwhile, Washington announced late Friday that it had approved major arms sales to its allies in the Middle East, including a $4 billion Patriot missile deal with Qatar and nearly $1 billion in precision weapons systems for Israel.
'Trapped in purgatory'
Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said Friday that his country has “never shied away from negotiations” but added that it would not accept the “imposition” of peace terms as it seeks to avoid a new conflict.
The White House has declined to provide details about the proposal, but the news site axios US envoy Steve Witkoff was reported to have tabled amendments that put Tehran's nuclear program back on the negotiating table.
The changes reportedly include demands that Iran not remove enriched uranium from bombed sites or resume activities there during the talks.
News of the Iranian proposal briefly sent oil prices tumbling nearly 5%, although they remain about 50% above pre-war levels amid the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran resident Amir told a Paris resident AFP Journalists considered the impasse “seems trapped in purgatory” and expressed little hope about the proposal.
“This is all a waste of time,” he said, predicting that the United States and Israel will “strike again.”
'Finalized'
Meanwhile, Washington is grappling with a legal dispute over whether Trump missed the deadline to seek congressional approval for the war.
Officials argue that a ceasefire stops the 60-day clock, at which point congressional authorization would be required, a claim disputed by opposition Democrats.
Trump faces mounting domestic pressure, with inflation rising, no clear victory in sight and a midterm election approaching.
“There has been no exchange of fire between US forces and Iran since April 7, 2026,” Trump said in letters to congressional leaders, adding that hostilities “have ended.”
Fourteen members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard were reportedly killed while defusing what far The news agency called unexploded cluster bombs and aerial mines in the northwestern province of Zanjan.
Iran has accused the United States and Israel of using cluster munitions, which spread small bombs that can remain dangerous for years.
'There is nothing left'
In addition to military attacks, the economic cost of the war for Iran is deepening.
Washington imposed new sanctions on three Iranian currency companies and warned others not to pay a “toll” for safe passage through Hormuz.
The US military says its blockade has stopped $6 billion in Iranian oil exports, while inflation has surpassed 50 percent.
“For many people, paying rent and even buying food has become difficult, and some have nothing left at all,” Mahyar, 28, told a AFP reporter based outside Iran.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mokhtaba Khamenei said in a statement Friday that “the owners of damaged companies should avoid, to the extent possible, layoffs and separation of their workforce,” while threatening Iran's enemies with an “economic and cultural jihad.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized his allies for not joining efforts to reopen Hormuz.
France and Britain have led efforts to form a coalition to reopen the strait once peace is guaranteed. But a U.S. official said Washington is launching its own coalition to restart shipping.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the US mission would “complement” European initiatives rather than replace them.
Meanwhile, the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier has left the Middle East after participating in operations against Iran, a US official said on Friday, although two other aircraft carriers remain.
