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DUBAI, May 3 — US President Donald Trump said yestarday he had been told about the concept of a deal with Iran, but was waiting for the exact wording, while warning there was still the possibility of restarting strikes on the country if Tehran misbehaves. A senior Iranian official said on Saturday that an Iranian proposal so far rejected by Trump would open shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and end the US blockade of Iran while leaving talks on Iran’s nuclear program for later.
When asked about Iran’s proposal before boarding a flight to Miami at West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump replied: “They told me about the concept of the deal. They’re going to give me the exact wording now.”
He added on his social media channel that he could not imagine the proposals would be acceptable and that Iran had not paid a big enough price for what it had done.
Asked if he might restart strikes on Iran, Trump replied: “I don’t want to say that. I mean, I can’t tell that to a reporter. If they misbehave, if they do something bad, right now we’ll see. But it’s a possibility that could happen.”
Iran says it’s ready for diplomacy
Trump has said repeatedly that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and said on Friday he was not satisfied with the latest Iranian proposal, while Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran was ready for diplomacy if the US changes its approach.
Reuters and other news organisations reported over the past week that Tehran was proposing to reopen the strait before nuclear issues were resolved. The official confirmed that this new timeline had now been spelled out in a formal proposal conveyed to the United States through mediators.
Trump also said on Friday that “on a human basis,” he did not prefer the military course of action and told congressional leaders he did not need their permission to extend the war beyond a deadline set by law for that day because the ceasefire had “terminated” hostilities.
While saying repeatedly he is in no hurry, Trump is under domestic pressure to break Iran’s hold on the strait, which has choked off 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies and pushed up US gasoline prices. Trump’s Republican Party faces the risk of a voter backlash over higher prices when the country votes in midterm congressional elections in November.
Iranian media said Tehran’s 14-point proposal included the withdrawal of US forces from areas surrounding Iran, lifting the blockade, releasing Iran’s frozen assets, payment of compensation, lifting sanctions and ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, as well as a new control mechanism for the strait. The United States and Israel suspended their bombing campaign against Iran four weeks ago, but appear no closer to a deal to end a war that has caused the biggest disruption ever to global energy supplies, roiled global markets and raised worries about the possibility of a wider global economic downturn.
Iran has been blocking nearly all shipping from the Gulf apart from its own for more than two months. Last month, the US imposed its own blockade of ships from Iranian ports.
Washington has repeatedly said it will not end the war, which has led to the deaths of thousands of people, without a deal that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the primary aim Trump cited when he launched strikes in February in the midst of nuclear talks. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential diplomacy, the senior Iranian official said Tehran believed its latest proposal to shelve nuclear talks for a later stage was a significant shift aimed at facilitating an agreement.
Under the proposal, the war would end with a guarantee that Israel and the United States would not attack again. Iran would open the strait, and the United States would lift its blockade.
Future talks would then be held on curbs to Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions, with Iran demanding Washington recognize its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, even if it agrees to suspend its nuclear program.
“Under this framework, negotiations over the more complicated nuclear issue have been moved to the final stage to create a more conducive atmosphere,” the official said. — Reuters
WASHINGTON, May 2 — US President Donald Trump said yesterday he was “not satisfied” with a new Iranian negotiating proposal, as peace talks remain frozen despite a weeks-long ceasefire.
Iran delivered the draft to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, the IRNA news agency reported, without detailing its contents.
“At this moment I’m not satisfied with what they’re offering,” Trump told reporters, blaming stalled talks on “tremendous discord” within Iran’s leadership.
“Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever — or do we want to try and make a deal?” he added, saying he would “prefer not” to take the first option “on a human basis.”
The war, launched by the United States and Israel with surprise strikes on February 28, has been on hold since April 8, with only one failed round of direct talks since.
Trump, under pressure at home to seek congressional authorisation for the war, wrote to lawmakers yesterday declaring hostilities “terminated” — despite no change in the US military posture.
Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.
Despite the stalemate, the ceasefire has held — but fighting has continued elsewhere in the region.
On the Lebanese front, Israel has continued deadly strikes despite an April 17 ceasefire with Iran-backed group Hezbollah that sought to halt more than six weeks of fighting.
Lebanon’s health ministry said 12 people were killed in strikes in the south, including in the town of Habboush, where the Israeli army had issued an evacuation order.
The state-run National News Agency said Israeli warplanes “launched a series of heavy strikes...less than an hour after” the warning.
Meanwhile, Washington announced late yesterday it had approved major arms sales to its allies in the Middle East, including a US$4 billion (RM15.8 billion) Patriot missile deal with Qatar and nearly US$1 billion in precision weapons systems to Israel.
‘Stuck in purgatory’
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said yesterday that his country had “never shied away from negotiations,” but added it would not accept “imposition” of peace terms while seeking to avoid renewed conflict.
The White House has declined to provide details on the proposal, but news site Axios reported US envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted amendments that put Tehran’s nuclear programme back on the negotiating table.
The changes reportedly include demands that Iran not move enriched uranium from bombed sites or resume activity there during talks.
News of the Iranian proposal briefly pushed oil prices down nearly five per cent, though they remain about 50 per cent above prewar levels amid the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran resident Amir told Paris-based AFP journalists the stalemate “feels like we are stuck in purgatory” and expressed little hope for the proposal.
“This is all to waste time,” he said, predicting the United States and Israel “will attack again.”
‘Terminated’
Washington, meanwhile, is grappling with a legal dispute over whether Trump has passed a deadline to seek congressional approval for the war.
Officials argue that a ceasefire pauses the 60-day clock, at which point congressional authorisation would be required — a claim disputed by opposition Democrats.
Trump faces growing domestic pressure, with inflation rising, no clear victory in sight and midterm elections approaching.
“There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026,” Trump said in letters to congressional leaders, adding that the hostilities “have terminated.”
Fourteen members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were reportedly killed defusing what the Fars news agency called unexploded cluster bombs and aerial mines in north-western Zanjan province.
Iran has accused the United States and Israel of using cluster munitions, which scatter bomblets that can remain dangerous for years.
‘Nothing left’
On top of military strikes, the war’s economic toll on Iran is deepening.
Washington imposed new sanctions on three Iranian currency firms and warned others against paying a “toll” for safe passage through Hormuz.
The US military says its blockade has stopped US$6 billion in Iranian oil exports, while inflation has surged past 50 per cent.
“For many people, paying rent and even buying food has become difficult, and some have nothing left at all,” 28-year-old Mahyar told an AFP reporter based outside Iran.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said yesterday in a statement that “the owners of damaged businesses should avoid, as much as possible, layoffs and separation of their workforce” while threatening Iran’s enemies with “economic and cultural jihad.”
Trump has repeatedly criticised allies for failing to join efforts to reopen Hormuz.
France and Britain have led efforts to assemble a coalition to reopen the strait once peace is secured. But a US official said Washington is launching its own coalition to restart shipping.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the US mission would “complement” European initiatives rather than replace them.
Meanwhile, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier has left the Middle East after taking part in operations against Iran, a US official said yesterday, though two other carriers remain. — AFP
swallace99 posted a photo:
Anonymous - Him
Bantam Books T7369, 1972
Cover Design: uncredited
"More startling than 'Her'"
"A novel of two women, a man, and the consummation of a sexual trinity."
Other Bantam Books by "Anonymous":
Her, Them, Me, Two, Us, Woman
Borden Deal (1922–1985) was a well-known American novelist who wrote the explicit, high-selling softcore series under the pseudonym "Anonymous".
The identity of the author was kept secret from the publisher, Bantam Books, until Deal died in January 1985, at which point he revealed his authorship in his own obituary.
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The post Latin America’s Silent 2026 Risk: A Returning El Niño appeared first on The Rio Times.
Key Points — At least 108,838 people were murdered across Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025, with contract killings accounting for a growing share in countries from Colombia to Peru — In Bogotá, half of all homicides are now classified as sicariato — professional hits carried out as outsourced services between criminal networks, with […]
The post How Latin America Turned Murder Into a Flourishing Global Industry appeared first on The Rio Times.
US president will need to show heavy costs of war were worthwhile while Iran must choose between instant and delayed gratification
If talks between Iran and the US reconvene within the next few days in Islamabad, Donald Trump will have two major political hurdles to overcome – first showing that any deal he secures is better than the one signed by Barack Obama in 2015 and from which he withdraw in 2018, and secondly proving the deal is more favourable than the one on offer in Geneva in February before he launched his war.
Otherwise he will have inflicted massive damage on the world economy when alternatives were available that were less costly in blood and treasure. He will also have to show that Iran has made no permanent gain by taking control of shipping passing through the strait of Hormuz. These are the yardsticks, or tests, around which his negotiating team will be keeping an anxious eye.
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© Photograph: Salwan Georges/Pool/Salwan Georges - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Salwan Georges/Pool/Salwan Georges - Pool/CNP/Shutterstock
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