An American official said that U.S. President Donald Trump is dissatisfied with Iran’s latest proposal to settle the two-month-long war, weakening hopes of reaching a resolution to the conflict, which has disrupted energy supplies, fueled inflation, and resulted in thousands of deaths.
Iran’s latest proposal calls for postponing discussions on its nuclear program until after the war ends and disputes related to Gulf shipping are resolved.
The proposal is unlikely to satisfy Washington, which insists that nuclear issues must be addressed from the outset. A U.S. official familiar with Trump’s Monday meeting with his advisers, speaking anonymously, said the president was unhappy with Iran’s proposal for this reason.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wells said the United States “will not negotiate through the press” and that it is “clear about our red lines,” as the Trump administration seeks to end the war against Iran that began in February with Israel.
A previous agreement signed in 2015 between Iran and several countries, including the United States, had significantly restricted Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran has consistently said is for peaceful civilian purposes. However, that agreement collapsed when Trump unilaterally withdrew from it during his first term.
Hopes for reviving peace efforts faded further after Trump canceled a planned visit by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad, which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had visited twice consecutively at the start of the week.
Araghchi also visited Oman and traveled on Monday to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received words of support from a long-time ally.
Oil Rises Again
As the gap between the warring sides appears to persist, oil prices resumed their rise, extending gains in early Asian trading on Tuesday.
Fawad Razqzadeh, market analyst at City Index and Forex.com, said in a note: “For oil traders, it is no longer the rhetoric that matters, but the actual flow of crude through the Strait of Hormuz—and for now, that flow remains limited.”
Ship-tracking data showed that at least six tankers carrying Iranian oil were forced to return to Iran due to U.S. control measures in recent days, highlighting the war’s impact on maritime navigation.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned U.S. seizures of oil tankers linked to Iran in a social media post, describing them as “an explicit legalization of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas.”
Before the war, between 125 and 140 ships passed through the Strait daily. However, vessel-tracking data from Kpler and satellite analysis from Cimmax indicate that only seven ships crossed on Monday, and none of them were carrying oil bound for the global market.
Facing declining popularity, Trump is under domestic pressure to end a war for which he has not maintained a consistent public justification.
Araghchi told reporters in Russia that Trump had requested negotiations because the United States had failed to achieve any of its objectives.
Senior Iranian sources, speaking anonymously to Reuters, said the proposal Araghchi presented in Islamabad at the start of the week includes phased talks that would not initially cover the nuclear issue.
The first step would be ending the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and securing guarantees that Washington would not reignite it.
Negotiators would then work on lifting the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and determining the future of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran seeks to keep under its control after reopening it.
Only after that would talks address other issues, including the long-standing dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
Tehran is still seeking some form of U.S. recognition of its right to enrich uranium.
