What happened in the last 24 hours?
Iran claims that the US proposal to end the war is “still under consideration”, following the latest media reports that the two warring parties could be close to a deal, the BBC reports.
Furthermore, the American portal Axios announced on Wednesday that the White House believes that it is close to achieving the so-called “memorandum of understanding” with Iran. We remind you that, as Jutarnji already wrote, it allegedly consists of 14 points.
Earlier, a high-ranking member of the Iranian parliament dismissed the same document as an “American wish list”, while a spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Tehran would convey its position on the mentioned American proposal to Pakistani mediators.
Pakistan’s foreign minister said that his country “seeks to turn the ceasefire into a permanent end to the war”. President Donald Trump he said that in the last 24 hours the US had “very good talks with Iran” and that an agreement was possible.
According to Axios, the memorandum was intended as a one-page, 14-point document that would set the framework for more detailed negotiations on Iran’s denuclearization.
Among the provisions mentioned are the suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment, the lifting of sanctions against Iran and the restoration of free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Portal Axios refers to two US officials and two other unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations. According to these sources, much of the terms of the memorandum would depend on reaching a final agreement.
Reuters reported that two sources familiar with the US-Iran mediation confirmed the information first reported by Axios, although the proposal has not yet been made public.
“The American proposal is still being considered by Iran, and after the analysis is completed, it will convey its opinion to the Pakistani side,” said a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry. Ismail Baghaei for the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA).
Reacting to the Axios report, Ebrahim Rezaeispokesman for the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, wrote on Platform X:
“Americans in a losing war will get nothing that they haven’t already tried to get in direct negotiations.”
He also added that Iran “has its finger on the trigger and is ready”, warning that if the US does not “capitulate and offer the necessary concessions”, Iran will respond “fiercely and in a way that it will regret”.
Trump also threatened a new escalation of violence, writing on his Truth Social platform that if Iran does not agree to the deal, “the bombing will begin again — and, unfortunately, much more forcefully and intensely than before.”
At the same time, he said that Operation Epic Fury — the initial US-Israeli offensive against Iran — would end “assuming Iran agrees to what was agreed.” The announcement comes after the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that the operation was over because its objectives had been achieved.
Trump also claimed, not for the first time, that Iran had agreed never to develop nuclear weapons “among many other things”, although Tehran did not confirm the claim. Iran’s nuclear program remains one of the key contentious issues between the two warring parties.
“They want a deal. We’ve had very good conversations in the last 24 hours and it’s entirely possible we’ll get a deal,” Trump said, adding, “I think we’ve won.”
On Tuesday, he announced that he was temporarily suspending the Freedom project, just days after its launch. The operation was supposed to help restore the flow of oil and gradually bring the global economy back to normal, by pulling the blocked ships out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has not yet officially commented on the suspension of the operation, but the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has hinted that the strait could be reopened if there is a “cease of threats from the aggressors”.
This key maritime route, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes, has been practically under Iranian blockade since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran at the end of February.
In early April, the US and Iran announced a truce under which Iran stopped drone and missile attacks on Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, but very few ships have been able to pass through the strait since then.
Meanwhile, the US imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports, claiming to have stopped dozens of ships and tankers. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Wednesday that the US military fired on an Iranian-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Oman and disabled it as it attempted to breach the blockade.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu he said on Wednesday that there was “full coordination” between him and Trump on Iran.
“There are no surprises. We share the same goals, the most important of which is the removal of all enriched nuclear material from Iran and the dismantling of Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity,” he said.
Netanyahu’s comments came after Israel launched its first attack on Beirut, the Lebanese capital, since a ceasefire was agreed in April.
Netanyahu wrote on social media that Israeli forces targeted a senior Hezbollah commander “responsible for attacks on Israeli settlements and harming IDF soldiers.”
Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian militia and political organization, began attacking Israel in early March in response to Israeli strikes on Iran.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, Israel and Hezbollah continued to attack each other, accusing each other of violating the agreement.
Most of the Israeli airstrikes are aimed at southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah attacks Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and northern Israel with rockets and drones.
