The United States has rejected Iran’s latest proposal for negotiations to end the war, with US President Donald Trump threatening to “blast them to hell” if a deal is not struck.
Peace talks between the two sides have stalled as an extended ceasefire remains in place.
Only one failed round of direct talks has taken place between Iranian and US representatives in Islamabad since the war began on February 28 after a second attempt fell apart.
Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off vast amounts of oil, gas and fertiliser from the world, while the United States has imposed a counter blockade on Iranian ports.
The US is proposing an international coalition help open the Strait of Hormuz after the conflict ends. (Reuters)
President Donald Trump said he was unhappy with the new proposal and threatened to “blast them to hell” if they failed to strike a deal.
“At this moment I’m not satisfied with what they’re offering,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House.
No details about the new proposal were included in Iranian media reports and Mr Trump did not specify what he was unsatisfied with in the offer.
“They’re asking for things that I can’t agree,” he said.
While Mr Trump said Iran had “made strides” in negotiations, he said there was “tremendous discord” in the leadership and warned: “I’m not sure if they ever get there.”
Mr Trump refused to say whether he would launch more strikes if a deal was not struck.
“Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever — or do we want to try and make a deal? I mean, those are the options,” he said.
Media reports that Mr Trump would be briefed on plans for new military strikes to compel Iran to negotiate had pushed global oil prices up to a four-year high on Thursday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell slightly to US$109.96 ($152.35) a barrel after Iran put forward a new proposal but were still poised for a 4.5 per cent gain over the week after hitting US$126 a barrel on Thursday.
A deadline for Trump to end the Iran war is looming
Friday was the deadline for the US to end the war or for Mr Trump to make the case to Congress for extending it under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.
The date looked set to pass without altering the course of the war after a senior administration official said that, for the purposes of the resolution, hostilities had terminated due to the April ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.
But Mr Trump is under increasing domestic pressure over the war, with no clear victory in sight, inflation spiking due to the conflict and midterm elections due in November.
While in Iran the economic consequences of the war, which come on top of years of fierce international sanctions, are also having an impact.
No quick results from talks, Iran warns
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei had earlier warned against expecting quick results from talks.
A senior official of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said any new US attack on Iran would usher in “long and painful strikes” on US regional positions.
Mr Trump repeated on Thursday that Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and said the price of gas – an important concern for his Republican Party before midterm elections in November – would “drop like a rock” as soon as the war ended.
Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, a senior figure, said Iran “has never shied away from negotiations”.
But in yet another sign that finding a compromise may prove difficult, Mr Ejei said “we certainly do not accept imposition”, in a video shared by state media.
“We do not welcome war in any way; we do not want war, we do not want its continuation,” he said.
Reuters/AFP
