U.S. President Donald Trump, early on Monday, rejected Iran’s response to America’s proposal for peace talks, calling it “totally unacceptable.”
After several days of review, Iran had responded to Washington’s latest peace proposal through intermediaries on Sunday. Announcing its response, it had warned it would not hold back from retaliating against any new U.S. strikes or permit more foreign warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
While Trump did not provide any details on Tehran’s counterproposal, he made clear his opposition to it in a post on social media. “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it—TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” he wrote on his TruthSocial platform.
Following his announcement, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB issued a statement on its Telegram channel. It claimed the U.S. plan “meant Iran’s surrender to Trump’s greed,” adding Tehran’s counterproposal had emphasized “the fundamental rights of the Iranian nation.” It further maintained the latest Iranian offer had stressed on the “necessity of war reparations by the U.S. and Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz,” as well as the “need to end sanctions and release the country’s seized funds and assets.”
Iran’s Embassy in India, in a posting on X, reiterated these assertions, saying accepting Trump’s plan “would have meant Tehran’s submission to Trump’s excessive demands.” It said Iran had also called for an end to all sanctions and the release of its seized assets and properties.
The development has once again raised fears of further conflict in the Middle East, with oil prices jumping $3/barrel immediately after Trump’s announcement. A ceasefire between Iran and the United States remains intact, but analyst warn that a prolonged impasse could result in further breaches, with potential to devolve into outright war.