President Donald Trump said last night the US was making progress in its efforts to negotiate an end to war with Iran, including winning an important concession from Tehran, while media outlets reported Washington had sent a 15-point settlement proposal.
Trump told reporters at the White House the US was talking to ‘the right people’ in Iran in order to reach a deal to end hostilities, adding the Iranians wanted to reach a deal very badly.
“We’re in negotiations right now,” he said.
Tehran has denied that direct talks have taken place. Iran’s powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on Monday dismissed the reports as ‘fake news’.
Citing two officials, the New York Times reported yesterday that Washington sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war in the Middle East. Israel’s Channel 12, quoting three sources, said the US was seeking a month-long ceasefire to discuss the 15-point plan.
The Israeli media outlet said the plan would include the dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear programme, ceasing support for proxy groups, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Republican president told reporters at the White House that Iran had made a valuable concession related to non-nuclear energy and the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has effectively shut the waterway, where 20 per cent of the world’s oil normally transits, since the US and Israel launched attacks four weeks ago, creating the worst energy supply shock in history and sending fuel prices soaring.
“It was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said, adding “it was a very nice thing they did.”
But US, Israeli and Iranian strikes continued and sources said Washington was preparing to send more troops to the region.
Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that the US was expected to send thousands of soldiers from the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East.
The forces will add to the 50,000 US troops already in the region and accelerate Washington’s massive US military buildup there, fuelling fears of a longer conflict.
Pakistan’s prime minister said that he was willing to host talks between the US and Iran on ending the war, a day after Trump postponed threats to bomb Iranian power plants, saying there had been ‘productive’ talks.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan fully supported ongoing efforts to pursue dialogue and was ready to host ‘meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement’.
A Pakistani government source said discussions on a meeting were at an advanced stage and if it did happen, ‘a big if’, it would take place within a week. Pakistan has long-standing ties to neighbouring Iran’s Islamic Republic and has been building a relationship with Trump.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Türkiye will continue working with all its resources to establish peace in the Iran war, which has hit the global economy.
The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28 after saying they had failed to make enough headway in talks aimed at ending Iran’s nuclear programme, although mediator Oman said significant progress had been made.
A new US-Israeli strike hit near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant yesterday evening, the state news agency Irna reported.
Irna, citing Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, said a projectile struck the area of the nuclear facility in the southern city of Bushehr at around 9.08pm (17.38 GMT).
Initial reports said that no casualties or damage was reported, and all sections of the nuclear facility remain intact.
Airstrikes hit a regional headquarters of Iraq’s umbrella group for Iran-backed militias and a home used by its leader yesterday, killing at least 15 fighters.
At least 30 other people were wounded in the strikes on the Popular Mobilisation Forces’ site in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, according to medical officials. They said some were in serious condition and the death toll could rise.
Lebanese state media said that an air strike hit a Christian town north of Beirut, an area that had not yet been targeted in the expanding war between Israel and armed group Hizbollah.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the town of Sahel Alma. Witnesses in the area told Reuters they heard several blasts and saw white smoke emanating from the town.
Iran told International Maritime Organisation member states that ‘non-hostile vessels’ may transit the Strait of Hormuz if they co-ordinate with Iranian authorities, the Financial Times reported, citing a letter.
The war has all but halted shipments of about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, causing oil supply disruption.
In the letter circulated among IMO members yesterday, Iran’s foreign ministry said Tehran had ‘taken necessary and proportionate measures to prevent the aggressors and their supporters from exploiting the Strait of Hormuz to advance hostile operations against Iran’, the newspaper said. Tehran said in the letter that vessels linked to the US and Israel, as well as ‘other participants in the aggression, do not qualify for innocent or non-hostile passage’, the FT said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The London-based UN shipping agency is responsible for regulating the safety and security of international shipping and preventing pollution, and comprises 176 member states.
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