WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump discussed a new Iranian proposal on resolving the war with Tehran with his top national security aides on April 27, with the conflict currently in a stalemate and energy supplies from the region reduced.
Iranian sources disclosed Tehran’s latest proposal earlier on April 27, which 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 Washington, which says nuclear issues must be dealt with from the outset.
Work has not halted to bridge gaps between the US and Iran, sources from mediator Pakistan said, despite the absence of face-to-face diplomacy after Mr Trump called off a trip by his envoys over the weekend.
Hopes of reviving peace efforts have receded since the US president scrapped a visit on April 25 by his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shuttled in and out twice over the weekend.
Mr Araghchi also visited Oman over the weekend and went to Russia on April 27, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received words of support from a longstanding ally.
With the warring sides still seemingly far apart on issues including Iran’s nuclear ambitions and access through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, oil prices resumed their upward march on April 27, hitting a two-week high.
Mr Trump met his national security team on April 27 morning.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the president or his national security team,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
“What I will reiterate is that the president’s red lines with respect to Iran have been made very, very clear, not just to the American public, but also to them as well.”
Mr Araghchi told reporters in Russia that Mr Trump had requested negotiations because the US has not achieved any of its objectives.
Senior Iranian sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the proposal carried by Mr Araghchi 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 Washington cannot start it up again. Then negotiators would resolve the US blockade 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 programme, with Iran still seeking some kind of US acknowledgment of its right to enrich uranium for what it says are peaceful purposes.
In a sign that no face-to-face meetings are planned any time soon, streets reopened in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, which had been locked down for a week in anticipation of talks that never took place.
Pakistani officials said negotiations were still taking place remotely, but there were no plans to convene a meeting in person until the sides were close enough to sign a memorandum.
Although a ceasefire has paused the US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on Feb 28, no agreement has been reached on terms to end a war that has killed thousands, driven up oil prices, fuelled inflation and darkened the outlook for global growth.
Iran has largely blocked all shipping apart from its own from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began.
In April, the United States began blockading Iranian ships.
Six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the US blockade in recent days, ship-tracking data shows, underscoring the impact the war is having on traffic.
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, Mr Trump faces domestic pressure to end the unpopular war. Iran’s leaders, though weakened militarily, have found leverage with their ability to stop shipping in the strait, which normally carries a fifth of global oil shipments.
Fighting has intensified in Lebanon, where Israeli strikes killed 14 people and wounded 37 in the south on April 26, according to the health ministry, making it the deadliest day since a US-brokered ceasefire was agreed in mid-April.
Iran says it will not hold talks on the wider conflict unless a ceasefire also holds in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March in pursuit of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which fired across the border in support of Tehran.
Israel and Hezbollah blame each other for violating the truce agreed between Israel and the Lebanese government in Washington and extended last week. REUTERS