Trump Calls Iran’s Reply to U.S. Peace Proposal Totally Unacceptable

President Trump on Sunday rejected Iran’s response to a U.S. proposal to end the war, writing on Truth Social that he had read the reply from Iran’s “so-called ‘Representatives’” and that “I don’t like it,” calling the message “totally unacceptable” He gave no detail on what he objected to, NBC News reported. Iranian state media said Tehran had sent its answer through Pakistan, which is mediating.

Al Jazeera reported that Trump told Axios he did not like the letter and called it “inappropriate,” and that he described the negotiations as “my situation, not everybody else’s.” The contents of the Iranian text were not officially released. According to Tasnim and other Iranian outlets cited by Al Jazeera, it stresses the need to end the war, guarantees against further aggression, the lifting of U.S. sanctions and Iranian management of the Strait of Hormuz, conditioned on U.S. commitments. Those outlets, relying on unnamed sources, also said it calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets over 30 days and an end to the fighting in Lebanon, and that it did not offer to negotiate Iran’s nuclear program at this stage. That account comes from Iranian media and has not been confirmed by either government.

The exchange came after weeks of stalled talks. NBC News said the two sides traded fire in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, more than a month after a temporary ceasefire was announced. The war began on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran, and roughly a fifth of the world’s oil normally passed through the strait before Iran began blocking ships.

Administration officials spoke more cautiously on the Sunday shows. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Washington was still waiting for a “clear resolution” from Iran and wanted “free flow of traffic” through the strait and an end to Iran’s nuclear program. U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz told ABC that talks had gone “longer and slower” than anyone would like but that diplomacy was continuing, NBC reported. Trump said in a Friday phone interview that the conflict would be over “when it’s over” and that a deal was “pretty close.”

The military picture remained tense. Al Jazeera reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard warned that any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial ships would draw assaults on U.S. bases and “enemy ships” in the region. U.S. Central Command said its forces had redirected 61 commercial vessels and disabled four others while enforcing the blockade of Iranian ports. The United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two drones launched from Iran, and Saudi Arabia condemned attacks on Gulf states and any attempt to close the strait.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war is “not over” until Iran’s nuclear materials, enrichment sites and proxies are dismantled, according to Al Jazeera. French President Emmanuel Macron said, per Al Jazeera, that Paris had never considered sending naval forces to Hormuz.

For American households the stakes are tangible. Energy prices have climbed since the war began, and NBC News reported that Wright said they would fall once traffic through the strait flows freely. He also said the administration was “open to all ideas” for easing costs, including suspending the federal gas tax, without endorsing it.