United States President, Donald Trump, said on Saturday that he will examine a new Iranian peace proposal, but expressed skepticism about its chances while also leaving open the option of future military action against Tehran.
Talks between both nations have remained stalled since a ceasefire took effect on April 8, with earlier negotiations aimed at ending the more than two-month conflict failing during a round of discussions in Pakistan.
The latest diplomatic move came after Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point peace proposal to mediator Islamabad.
According to Tasnim, the plan includes ending hostilities on all fronts and introducing a new framework for managing the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
“I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Speaking briefly to reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, he declined to detail what might trigger renewed military action against Iran.
“If they misbehave, if they do something bad, but right now, we’ll see,” he said. “But it’s a possibility that could happen, certainly.”
On Saturday, Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in Iran’s central military command, warned that “a renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely.”
“Evidence has shown that the United States is not committed to any promises or agreements,” he added, according to Fars news agency.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran that “the ball is in the United States’ court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach.”
He added that Iran was “prepared for both paths.”
– ‘Hypocritical’ –
Earlier in the week, US news outlet Axios reported that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff had pushed for Iran’s nuclear programme to return to the negotiating table.
Iran’s UN mission responded by pointing to Washington’s nuclear arsenal, accusing the United States on Saturday of “hypocritical behavior” regarding Tehran’s nuclear activities.
It also argued there was no legal “restriction on the level of uranium enrichment, so long as it is conducted under the IAEA’s supervision, as was the case with Iran,” referring to the UN nuclear watchdog.
Since the war began, Iran has maintained control over the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting major global flows of oil, gas and fertilizer, while the United States has imposed counter-restrictions on Iranian ports.
Oil prices have surged to about 50 percent above pre-war levels.
Ali Nikzad, vice speaker of Iran’s parliament, said draft legislation concerning the waterway proposes allocating 30 percent of toll revenues to military infrastructure, with the remainder directed toward “economic development.”
“Managing the Strait of Hormuz is more important than acquiring nuclear weapons,” he said.
Meanwhile, fighting continued in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out strikes despite a separate truce with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The Israeli military said it had hit dozens of Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon after issuing evacuation warnings for nine villages.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported three fatalities in the strikes.
Hezbollah, in turn, said it had launched several attacks targeting Israeli troops.
Among the strikes was one in the village of Yaroun, which Israel said targeted a “religious building” that was damaged.
The French Catholic charity L’Oeuvre d’Orient said Israeli forces had “destroyed” a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek-Catholic order affiliated with the organisation.
– Iran’s economic toll –
In Washington, lawmakers debated whether Trump had missed a deadline requiring congressional approval for the war.
Administration officials argue that the ceasefire paused a 60-day timeline after which authorisation would be required, a position disputed by opposition Democrats.
Inside Iran, the conflict’s economic impact is intensifying, with oil exports restricted and inflation climbing above 50 percent.
“Everyone is trying to endure it, but… they are falling apart,” said 40-year-old Tehran resident Amir, speaking to an AFP reporter based outside the country.
“We still have not seen much of the economic effects because everyone had a bit of savings. They had some gold and dollars for a rainy day. When they run out, things will change.”
