US President Donald Trump has called a new peace proposal from Iran “completely unacceptable”. The stumbling block remains Iran’s nuclear program. Business newspaper ‘The Wall Street Journal’ found out exactly what it said through well-informed sources.
Koen Van De Sype
Journalist at HLN
Iran’s peace proposal consisted of “several pages” and was transferred to mediator Pakistan. The regime wants a ceasefire first and foremost. It promises to gradually reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping in exchange for lifting the US blockade on Iranian ports and ships.
The nuclear issue would not be discussed until the next thirty days. However, the United States has made it clear several times that discussions about the future of Iran’s nuclear program and its stockpile of highly enriched uranium are a prerequisite for everything else.
Uranium
In the new proposal, Iran shows its willingness to dilute some of its highly enriched uranium and transfer the rest to “a third country.” That could be Russia, for example. The regime also wants guarantees that the transferred uranium will be returned if negotiations fail or if the US later withdraws from the deal, the sources said.
Iran wants to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment, but for less time than the twenty years demanded by the US. Iran, on the other hand, resolutely rejected the dismantling of its nuclear facilities.
It does not look like the new proposal will force a breakthrough. President Trump immediately dismissed it in two sentences on his social media channel ‘Truth Social’: “I just read the response from the so-called ‘representatives’ of Iran. I don’t like it – COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!”
Earlier, the Iranian news agency ‘IRNA’ and the Iranian state broadcaster ‘IRIB’ also reported that Iran first wants to see an end to “hostilities in the region”, “on all fronts, including in Lebanon”. The latter may be a problem for Israel, which continues to carry out an offensive there despite a ceasefire.
Sanctions
The Iranian news agency ‘Tasnim’ also states that sanctions against Tehran should be lifted, as well as the US naval blockade.
