U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during military operations in Iran, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. February 28, 2026. The White House\/Social Media\/Handout via REUTERS<\/p>\n
Trump Says Iran\u2019s Response to U.S. Peace Proposal is Unacceptable<\/p>\n
By Nayera Abdallah (Reuters)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0on Sunday rejected Iran\u2019s response to a<\/p>\n
U.S. proposal for peace talks<\/p>\n
to end the war, as two\u00a0ships were allowed to pass through the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have just read the response from Iran\u2019s so-called \u201cRepresentatives.\u201d I don\u2019t like it \u2014 TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social, without giving further detail.<\/p>\n
Iranian state media said the response focused on ending the war on all fronts,\u00a0especially Lebanon, and on the safety of\u00a0shipping through the strait, Iranian state TV said, without indicating how or when the vital waterway might reopen.<\/p>\n
It followed a U.S. proposal to end fighting before starting talks on\u00a0more contentious issues, including Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Tehran\u2019s proposal included an immediate end to the war on all fronts, a halt to the U.S. naval blockade, guarantees of no further attacks on Iran and the lifting of sanctions on Iran, including a U.S. ban on Iranian oil sales.<\/p>\n
The Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed sources saying Iran proposed diluting some of its highly enriched uranium and transferring the remainder to a third country.<\/p>\n
Pakistan, which has been mediating talks over\u00a0the war, forwarded the Iranian response to the U.S., a Pakistani official said. There was no immediate U.S. comment.<\/p>\n
Despite a month-old ceasefire in the conflict and after some 48 hours of relative calm, hostile drones were detected over several Gulf countries on Sunday, underlining the threat still facing the region.<\/p>\n
Still, the QatarEnergy-operated carrier Al Kharaitiyat<\/p>\n
passed safely through the strait<\/p>\n
and was heading for Pakistan\u2019s Port Qasim, according to data from\u00a0shipping analytics firm Kpler. It was the first Qatari vessel carrying liquefied natural gas to cross the strait since the U.S. and Israel started the war on February 28.<\/p>\n
Sources said earlier the transfer, which offered a modicum of relief to Pakistan after a wave of power blackouts caused by a halt to gas imports, had been approved by Iran to build confidence with Pakistan and with Qatar, another mediator.<\/p>\n
In addition, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier bound for Brazil that had previously attempted to transit the strait on May 4 passed through, using a route designated by Iran\u2019s armed forces, Tasnim reported on Sunday.<\/p>\n
TRUMP UNDER PRESSURE TO END WAR AHEAD OF CHINA VISIT<\/p>\n
With Trump due to visit China this week, there has been mounting pressure to draw a line under the war, which has ignited a global energy crisis and poses a growing threat to the world economy.<\/p>\n
Tehran has largely blocked non-Iranian\u00a0shipping through the narrow<\/p>\n
, which before the war carried one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply and has emerged as one of the central pressure points in the war.<\/p>\n
Addressing whether combat operations against Iran were over, Trump said in remarks aired on Sunday: \u201cThey are defeated, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war was not over because there was \u201cmore work to be done\u201d to remove enriched uranium from Iran, dismantle enrichment sites and address Iran\u2019s proxies and ballistic missile capabilities.<\/p>\n
The best way to remove the enriched uranium would be through diplomacy, Netanyahu said in an<\/p>\n
with CBS News\u2019 \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d without ruling out removing it by force.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a social media post that Iran would \u201cnever bow down to the enemy\u201d and would \u201cdefend national interests with strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite diplomatic efforts to break a deadlock, the threat to\u00a0shipping lanes and the economies of the region remained high.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two drones coming from Iran, while Qatar condemned a drone attack that hit a cargo\u00a0ship\u00a0coming from Abu Dhabi in its waters. Kuwait said its air defenses had dealt with hostile drones that entered its airspace.<\/p>\n
Recent days have seen the biggest\u00a0flare-ups in fighting\u00a0in and around the strait since a ceasefire began: the UAE came under renewed attack on Friday and sporadic clashes were reported between Iranian forces and U.S. vessels in the strait.<\/p>\n
Clashes have also continued in southern Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced on April 16.<\/p>\n
Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2 when the Lebanese group opened fire after Tehran came under U.S.-Israeli attack. The latest talks between Israel and Lebanon are\u00a0due to start\u00a0in Washington on May 14.<\/p>\n
INTERNATIONAL MISSION PREPARATIONS DRAW IRANIAN WARNING<\/p>\n
Though Washington imposed its own blockade on Iranian vessels last month, Tehran has taken its time before responding to calls to end a war that surveys show is\u00a0unpopular with U.S. voters\u00a0facing ever-higher gasoline prices.<\/p>\n
With the Trump administration facing U.S. voter discontent less than six months before congressional elections, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that the Trump administration was \u201cconstantly looking for different ideas\u201d to lower gasoline prices.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has found\u00a0little international support, with NATO allies refusing calls to send\u00a0ships to open the Strait of Hormuz without a full peace deal and an internationally mandated mission.<\/p>\n
Domestically, Trump has had to fend off attempts by congressional Democrats to force an end to the war through War Powers Act legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a situation that has been made much worse by the actions of Donald Trump, and now he\u2019s floundering around trying to figure out a way to get out of it,\u201d U.S. Senator Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Fox News\u2019 \u201cSunday Morning Futures\u201d show.<\/p>\n
Britain, which has been working with France on a proposal to ensure safe transit through the strait once the situation stabilizes, said on Saturday it was deploying a\u00a0warship\u00a0to the Middle East\u00a0in preparation for such a mission, following a\u00a0similar move\u00a0by France.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on social media that any stationing of British, French or other warships around the Strait of Hormuz under the pretext of \u201cprotecting\u00a0shipping\u201d would be an escalation and would be met by force.<\/p>\n
In response, French President Emmanuel Macron said France was standing ready to help the international mission, but \u201cwe have never envisaged a military deployment to re-open Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n