DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump is unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal on resolving the two-month war, a US official said, dampening hopes for a resolution to the conflict that has disrupted energy supplies, fuelled inflation, and killed thousands.
Iran’s latest proposal would set aside discussion of Iran’s nuclear programme until the war is ended and disputes over shipping from the Gulf are resolved.
That is unlikely to satisfy the U.S., which says nuclear issues must be dealt with from the outset, and Trump was unhappy with Iran’s proposal for that reason, a US official briefed on the president’s Monday meeting with his advisers said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the US “will not negotiate through the press” and has “been clear about our red lines” as the Trump administration looks to end the war against Iran it began in February alongside Israel.
A previous agreement in 2015 between Iran and multiple other countries including the U.S. sharply curtailed Iran’s nuclear programme, which it has long maintained is for peaceful, civilian purposes. But that deal fell apart when Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in his first term in office.
Hopes of reviving peace efforts have receded since the U.S. president scrapped a visit planned for last weekend by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi shuttled in and out twice during the weekend.
Araqchi also visited Oman and on Monday went to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received words of support from a longstanding ally.
With the warring sides still seemingly far apart, oil prices resumed their upward march, extending gains in early Asia trade on Tuesday.
“For oil traders, it’s not the rhetoric that matters any more, but the actual physical flow of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and right now, that flow remains constrained,” Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, said in a note.
At least six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the U.S. blockade in recent days, ship-tracking data showed, underscoring the war’s impact on traffic.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned U.S. seizures of Iran-linked tankers as “outright legalization of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas”, in a social media post.
Between 125 and 140 ships usually crossed in and out of the strait daily before the war, but only seven have done so in the past day, according to Kpler ship-tracking data and satellite analysis from SynMax, and none of them were carrying oil bound for the global market.
With his approval ratings falling, Trump faces domestic pressure to end a war for which he has given the US public shifting rationales.
Araqchi told reporters in Russia that Trump had requested negotiations because the U.S. has not achieved any of its objectives.
Senior Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the proposal carried by Araqchi to Islamabad over the weekend envisioned talks in stages, with the nuclear issue to be set aside at the start.
A first step would require ending the US-Israeli war on Iran and providing guarantees that the U.S. cannot start it up again. Then negotiators would resolve the US Navy’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran aims to reopen under its control.
Only then would talks look at other issues, including the longstanding dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, with Iran still seeking some kind of US acknowledgment of its right to enrich uranium.
