TEHRAN: Iran has submitted its response to the latest US proposal aimed at ending the Middle East war, with an end to a US naval blockade and the release of frozen assets among its demands.
Details of the original US proposal remain limited, but media outlets have reported it involves a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the fighting and set a framework for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme.
President Donald Trump has flatly rejected Iran’s response, leaving the push to end the Middle East war at a deadlock.
Here is what we know about the two sides’ positions:
NUCLEAR QUESTION
Iran’s response called for an immediate end to the war across the region, including in Lebanon, as well as a halt to the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, according to the Iranian foreign ministry on Monday.
It also called for the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad under longstanding US sanctions, the ministry said.
According to anonymous sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, Iran proposed engaging in negotiations on its nuclear programme over “the next 30 days”.
It also offered “to have some of its highly enriched uranium diluted and the rest transferred to a third country”, the newspaper said.
The Journal reported that Iran was willing to suspend enrichment of uranium but for a shorter period than the 20 years proposed by the US. But Tehran rejected dismantling its nuclear facilities, the outlet said.
Israel and the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war last June and Trump has claimed the strikes “obliterated” the nuclear programme.
But the two countries say Iran still possesses enriched uranium that could be used to manufacture a bomb, saying it must be removed from Iran.
The Journal said Iran’s response had failed to meet US demands on the future of the nuclear programme and highly enriched uranium.
Trump on Sunday called the Iranian reply “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE”.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency, citing an unnamed source, said the paper’s report “was not reflective of the reality”, particularly regarding the highly enriched uranium.
