WASHINGTON: Efforts to end the Iran conflict were at an impasse on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump unhappy with the latest proposal from Tehran, which he said had informed the US it was in a “state of collapse” and figuring out its leadership situation.
Iran’s most recent offer for resolving the two-month war would set aside discussion of its nuclear program until the conflict was concluded and shipping disputes resolved.
But Trump wants nuclear issues dealt with from the outset, a US official briefed on Trump’s Monday meeting with his advisers said. In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump said: “Iran has just informed us that they are in a ‘State of Collapse’.
They want us to ‘Open the Hormuz Strait,’ as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!).”
It was unclear from his post how Iran might have communicated that message and there was no immediate response from Tehran to Trump’s latest comments.
'Irrational demands'
Iranian defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said on Tuesday that Washington "must abandon its illegal and irrational demands."
"The United States is no longer in a position to dictate its policy to independent nations," he said, according to state TV and reported by AFP.
Asked about Iran's proposal, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News "it's better than what we thought they were going to submit," but questioned whether it was genuine.
"They're very good negotiators," he said, adding any eventual deal had to be "one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon."
Iran has largely blocked all shipping apart from its own from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global energy supplies, since the war began on February 28. This month, the US began blockading Iranian ships.
Hopes of reviving peace efforts in a conflict that has killed thousands, thrown energy markets into turmoil and disrupted global trade routes have receded since Trump last weekend scrapped a visit by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to mediator Pakistan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shuttled in and out of Islamabad twice during the weekend.
Frozen conflict
Qatar on Tuesday warned of the possibility of a "frozen conflict" if a definitive resolution is not found.
"We do not want to see a return to hostilities in the region anytime soon. We do not want to see a frozen conflict that ends up being thawed every time there is a political reason," Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said at a press conference, calling for a "sustainable" peace.
Senior Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the proposal carried by Araghchi to Islamabad over the weekend envisioned talks in stages.
A first step would require ending the war and providing guarantees the US cannot restart it. Then negotiators would resolve the US Navy’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea and the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran aims to reopen under its control.
Nuclear program
Only then would talks look at other issues, including the longstanding dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, with Iran seeking US acknowledgment of its right to enrich uranium.
That would bear echoes of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with the United States and other powers, which had sharply curtailed Tehran’s nuclear program.
Trump unilaterally withdrew from that accord in his first term. Now he faces domestic pressure to end a war for which he has given the US public shifting rationales.
Trump’s approval rating fell to the lowest level of his current term, as Americans increasingly soured on his handling of the cost of living and the unpopular war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The poll showed 34 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance, down from 36 percent in the prior survey.
In the latest sign of strains between Trump and European allies, he said in a social media post that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” regarding Iran. Merz said on Monday that Iran’s leadership was humiliating the US and that he did not see what exit strategy the Trump administration was pursuing.
But Britain’s King Charles told the US Congress on Tuesday that despite uncertainty and conflict in Europe and the Middle East, the UK and the US, “whatever our differences,” will always be staunch allies united in defending democracy.
He spoke at a time of deep divisions between the two long-time partners over the war with Iran.
Oil prices rise again
With the warring sides still seemingly far apart, oil prices resumed their upward march, with Brent crude rising 2.8 percent to around $111.26 a barrel. The World Bank forecast energy prices would surge by 24 percent in 2026 to their highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, if the most acute disruptions caused by the Iran war end in May.
The United Arab Emirates said it was quitting OPEC and OPEC+, exposing discord among Gulf nations over Iran. At least six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the US blockade in recent days, ship-tracking data showed, underscoring the war’s impact on traffic.
Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh MoHajjerani told state media on Tuesday Tehran was using northern, eastern and western trade corridors that did not rely on Gulf ports to neutralize the blockade’s effects.
Between 125 and 140 ships usually crossed in and out of the Strait of Hormuz daily before the war, but only seven have done so in the past day, according to Kpler ship-tracking data and satellite analysis from SynMax, and none of them were carrying oil bound for the global market.
Also on Tuesday, the US said it was imposing sanctions on 35 entities and individuals for their role in Iran’s shadow banking system, accusing them of facilitating the movement of tens of billions of dollars tied to sanctions evasion and what it said was Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism.
* With AFP and Reuters
