"Totally Unacceptable": Trump Rejects Iran's Peace Plan, Tehran Responds

US President Donald Trump has rejected Iran's proposal to end the over two-month-long war in the Middle East, claiming Tehran's terms were "totally unacceptable" and raising the likelihood of renewed conflict after weeks of negotiations. The American commander-in-chief, who is under increasing domestic pressure to end the Iran war, claimed the Islamic republic was "militarily defeated", as he insisted that Tehran's nuclear programme --one of the main reasons why Trump started the war-- has been contained.

The 79-year-old Republican himself provided no details on Tehran's counterproposal but, in a brief post on his Truth Social platform, said he was rejecting it.

What Trump Said

"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it -- TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" he said.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Iran has laid out its own demands to Washington and proposed to have some of its highly enriched uranium diluted, and the rest transferred to a third country. In its response, delivered through mediator Pakistan, Iran sought guarantees that the transferred uranium will be returned if negotiations fail or Washington quits the agreement later, sources told the Journal.

Trump made no mention of such details in rejecting Iran's response.

Later, talking to journalist Sharyl Attkisson, Trump also claimed the US was "closely monitoring" Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium and claimed Washington would know if anyone approached the site and would "blow them up".

"We'll get that at some point. Whenever we want. We have it surveilled. I did a thing called Space Force, and they are watching that... If anybody got near the place, we will know about it -- and we'll blow them up," the US leader said.

Referring to American surveillance capabilities, Trump said that Washington would know if anyone went near the enriched uranium. "If somebody walked in, they (Space Force) can tell you his name, address, his badge number," Trump said.

Iran's Response

Iran responded by warning it would not hold back from retaliating against any new US strikes or permit more foreign warships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state television reported that Tehran has also rejected the American counterproposal as amounting to surrender, insisting instead on "war reparations by the US, full Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to sanctions, and the release of seized Iranian assets."

According to state broadcaster IRIB, the US plan, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war "on all fronts, especially Lebanon" -- where Israel has kept up its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah -- as well as on "ensuring shipping security". The US proposal had also reportedly focused on extending the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a final settlement of the conflict and on Iran's contested nuclear programme.

Tehran publicly maintained its defiant line, despite behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

"We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X.

Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, "issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies" while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.

Netanyahu's Claim

The back and forth came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- whose forces launched the war on Iran along with the US military on February 28 -- insisted the conflict was not over until Iran's enriched uranium was removed and its nuclear facilities dismantled.

"It's not over, because there's still nuclear material -- enriched uranium -- that has to be taken out of Iran. There's still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled," Netanyahu said in an interview that aired Sunday on the CBS News program "60 Minutes."

"You go in and you take it out," the Israeli leader said when asked how the uranium could be removed.

Netanyahu said US President Donald Trump had a similar position, even though Trump insists that Tehran's nuclear programme has been contained.

"I'm not going to talk about military means, but the president, what President Trump has said to me -- 'I want to go in there.'"

Latest in War 

Since early in the war, Iran has imposed a blockade on the vital Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring and rattling financial markets. It has since set up a payment mechanism to extract tolls from ships crossing the strait, but US officials have stressed it would be "unacceptable" for Tehran to control an international waterway and the route for a fifth of the world's oil and other vital materials. 

The US Navy, meanwhile, is blockading Iran's ports, at times disabling or diverting ships heading to and from them. Britain and France are leading efforts to create an international coalition to secure the Strait after a peace deal is reached, with both countries sending vessels to the region in advance.

The two countries this week will host a multinational meeting of defence ministers from more than 40 nations on military plans to restore trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the United Kingdom said.

But Iran has warned that Britain and France would meet "a decisive and immediate response" should they deploy their ships to the strait. "Only the Islamic Republic of Iran can establish security in this strait, and it will not allow any country to interfere in such matters," Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron later insisted his country had "never envisaged" a naval deployment in Hormuz, but rather a security mission "coordinated with Iran." 

(With inputs from agencies)