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Iran said on Wednesday that it was reviewing a United States peace petition sources say they will end the war, and abandon US demands that Iran halt its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman quoted by Iran’s ISNA news agency said on Wednesday that Tehran would give its response. US President Donald Trump said he believes Iran wants a deal.
“They want to make a deal. We’ve had a very good conversation in the last 24 hours, and it’s possible we’re going to make a deal,” Trump said. he told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
A day earlier, Trump suspended “Project Freedom” to reopen the blockade, citing progress in peace talks. The blockage of the waterway is threatening the collapse of the world economy. Iran has been pushing for control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas flows.
Here’s more about the U.S. proposal to end the war, and how experts think Iran might respond.
What are the latest US proposals to end the Iran war?
The US newspaper Axios said the two sides are “closer” to an agreement on a 14-point document. Under the memorandum, Iran will agree not to develop a nuclear weapon and stop enriching uranium for at least 12 years, it said.
The US would lift sanctions and release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets, and both sides, which have led to a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, will reopen the critical waterway within 30 days of signing.
Iran has been under US sanctions for years, and the lifting of some sanctions under the 2015 nuclear deal was reversed after Trump pulled out of a key deal signed by his predecessor, President Barack Obama. Billions of dollars of Iran’s wealth being frozen in foreign banks due to sanctions.
It is unclear how this memorandum differs from a 14 point plan which was issued by Iran last week.
Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the mediation, that the US negotiations were led by Trump’s representative Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. If both parties agree on the initial agreement, this will begin a 30-day period of detailed negotiations to reach a full agreement.
A comprehensive deal would end the US-Iran conflict along the way, lift US sanctions and release frozen Iranian funds. It will also include other restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program, which was sanctioned by the United Nations nuclear weapons watchdog.
Although the sources said the memorandum would not require approval by both sides, it did not mention several demands that Washington has made in the past, which Iran has rejected, such as restrictions on Iran’s weapons program and the end of its support for armed groups in the Middle East.
The sources also did not mention Iran’s stockpiles of more than 400kg (900lb) of near-weapons-grade uranium.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a Trump ally, said on Wednesday the two leaders agreed that all enriched uranium must be removed from Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb.
The US and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities last June in a 12-day war, after which Trump declared that Tehran’s nuclear program had been dismantled. Most of Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium are stored in nuclear bomb sites.
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon. They insist that his program is for civilian purposes as permitted within his role as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Will Iran accept this proposal?
Iran has yet to officially respond to the latest US request. However, Iranian leaders pushed back.
Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaee, spokesman for the parliament’s powerful committee on foreign affairs and national security, described the statement as “a list of American interests rather than reality”.
The speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, appeared to laugh off reports that the two sides had approached, writing on social media in English that “Operation Trust Me Bro has failed.”
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar Atas, reporting from Tehran, said on Thursday that Iran is still looking at the US request, after which a response is expected to be given to Pakistani mediators later today.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it was receiving information about a possible deal between Iran and the US, adding that it would not disclose details at this time.
“As mediators, we will not lose the trust of both parties by revealing more information,” it said in a statement quoted by Al Jazeera Arabic.
Atas said, “The Iranians are saying that, at this point, they are not discussing their nuclear program, they are just ending the war on all sides.”
He added that Tehran wants direct guarantees from the UN Security Council, lifting sanctions and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
“If this is possible, in the second phase, they are ready to discuss their nuclear program.”
Almigdad Alruhaid of Al Jazeera reported from Tehran on Tuesday that Iran has set a “very red line” on the nuclear file. “The nuclear enrichment program is non-negotiable,” he said.
According to former US Secretary of State Mark Kimmitt, Trump’s statement that he wants Iran to stop enriching uranium is impossible and impossible to be accepted by Tehran.
“If there is anything the Iranians can insist on in these negotiations, it is their right to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent, which is allowed under the nuclear non-proliferation agreements,” he told Al Jazeera.
Kimmitt added that even the 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to continue to enrich itself. Iran expanded its economy by 60 percent after Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018, during his first term.
However, Kimmitt also suggested that Trump may want Iran to have enriched uranium outside of Iran. He also said that Iran could agree to transfer the enriched uranium out of the country or offload it to a non-enriched country.
Alruhaid, a reporter for Al Jazeera, however, said Iran is refusing to hand over its existing stockpile of enriched uranium.
Iran he is believed to have about 440kg (970lb) of uranium weighed 60 percent. It takes 90 percent enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.
Al Jazeera’s Alruhaid said that “governance over the Strait of Hormuz is becoming one of the main issues in the negotiations.
“We’re seeing the Iranians building up their power. They’re setting up a new system, a new way to direct the tug on every ship that goes by.”
US allies in the Gulf, faced with Iranian threats of retaliation, have been pushing to restore maritime traffic without any problems. Iran carried out attacks in the Gulf countries, mainly targeting US military facilities, after the US and Israeli attacks on February 28.
Trump has repeatedly played up the prospect of a deal that would end the war, so far without success. The two sides are still at odds over various issues, such as Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its control of the Strait of Hormuz.
A Pakistani source and another source briefed on the mediation told Reuters that the deal was close to a one-page memorandum that would end the dispute, the agency said on Thursday.
The agreement will open talks on lifting the blockade, lifting US sanctions on Iran and establishing measures to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the sources said.
Al Jazeera, however, did not confirm the authenticity of the reports.
