Iran reviewing US response to 14-point proposal: state media
Why this matters: local context for readers following news across Pakistan and the region.
Tehran said on Sunday that the United States had responded to its 14-point proposal via Pakistan and that it was reviewing the response, according to Iranian state media. “At this stage, we do not have nuclear negotiations,” an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said, according to state media. Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Washington faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan, came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held in Islamabad so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. US news website Axios reported, citing two sources briefed on the proposal, that it set “a one-month deadline for negotiations on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the US naval blockade and permanently end the war in Iran and in Lebanon”. Separately, Al Jazeera reported, citing sources, that the proposal envisaged three main stages, aiming to “transform the ceasefire into an end to the war within 30 days”. According to the report, the proposal “envisions a pledge of nonaggression, including from Israel, to ensure there’s no return to war and an end to fighting throughout the Middle East”. It said the proposal suggested the gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in the first phase, as well as lifting of the US blockade of Iranian ports. Under the proposed plan, Tehran would take charge of dealing with sea mines, the report said. It a