A top Iranian official on Monday said a peace proposal summarily rejected by President Donald Trump was a “reasonable and generous” path toward ending the war.
Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said during a press conference that “the only thing we have demanded is Iran’s legitimate rights,” accusing the US side of insisting on “unreasonable demands.”
Baghaei’s remarks came after Trump in a social media post dismissed the Iranian proposal – a counter to the latest US offer – as “totally unacceptable.”
“I don’t like it,” Trump wrote, without specifying what he found objectionable. The president’s reply sent oil prices surging.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote late Sunday that it appears Iran is offering to compromise significantly on its uranium stockpile and future enrichment.
“The US demands that the entire Iranian stockpile be shipped out of the country. In the past, Tehran rejected shipping any of it out; it only agreed to downblending it. In its latest proposal, however, it offers to have some of it diluted and the rest shipped to a third country,” Parsi wrote. “As I understand it … Iran is also offering to accept an arrangement in which it will not need to enrich uranium at all for 12 years. This is not the 15-20 years Trump originally wanted, but longer than the 3-5 years Terhan originally offered.”
“That Iran is willing to pause enrichment at all is a significant concession that I am not sure is fully appreciated by the American side,” he continued. “It remains unclear to me why this and the stockpile have become so central in Trump’s perspective. His earlier red line was simply no nuclear weapons… The insistence on shipping the entire stockpile out appears to be another example of Trump allowing America’s red lines to be replaced by Israel’s. It would be a shame if the entire negotiation collapses over this issue.”
The details of the US offer and Iran’s counter have not been fully made public, though some of both sides’ demands have been divulged in media reports and vaguely outlined by government officials. Trump, who has repeatedly issued dire threats against Iran and called the country’s leaders “lunatics,” told Axios that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Iran’s response.
“It was a very nice call,” said Trump. “We have a good relationship.”
Iranian comments
Iran’s Baghaei, for his part, rejected the notion that Iran is the party behaving irrationally. “It is enough to look at Iran’s record,” he said. “Were we the ones who deployed troops? Are we the ones bullying countries in the Western Hemisphere? Were we the ones who committed assassinations twice during negotiations?”
“Is our proposal for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz unreasonable?” Baghaei asked in response to the US president. “Is establishing peace and security across the entire region irresponsible?”
Citing an “informed source,” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported Monday that “Iran’s text emphasizes the necessity of an immediate end to the war and guarantees against renewed aggression toward Iran, along with several other issues within the framework of a political understanding.”
“Iran’s text also stresses the necessity of lifting US sanctions and ending the war on all fronts, as well as Iranian management of the Strait of Hormuz should certain commitments be fulfilled by the United States,” Tasnim added. “The necessity of ending the naval blockade against Iran immediately after the signing of the initial understanding is also among Iran’s emphasized demands, the source said.”