Iran Rejects US Peace Plan; War Intensifies

Iran has rejected a 15-point US ceasefire proposal, dismissed ongoing negotiations and continued military attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab states, while the United States deploys approximately 6,000 additional troops to the region and Israel carries out daily airstrikes on Tehran. With the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed, energy prices continue to rise and recession fears are mounting. 

Iran has rejected a 15-point US proposal to end the war in the Middle East, dismissed ongoing negotiations and launched new attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab states, as the United States deployed additional troops to the region and Israel carried out airstrikes on Tehran.

Iran's state-run Press TV cited an anonymous senior political-security official as saying Tehran rejected the US ceasefire framework and laid out five conditions of its own to end the conflict. "Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met," Press TV quoted the official, adding that Tehran would continue its "heavy blows" across the region.

Iran's parliament speaker went further, denying that any negotiations had taken place. "No negotiations have been held with the United States, and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the United States and Israel are trapped," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.

The rejection came a day after US President Donald Trump said Iran was "desperate" for talks and that Iranian negotiators had offered the United States a "very significant prize" related to oil, gas and the Strait of Hormuz, without providing further details. Trump has said American officials are in contact with Iranian counterparts but has not identified them. "We are dealing with the right people," he said.

What the US Plan Contains

The 15-point proposal, transmitted to Iran through Pakistan and published by Israel's Channel 12 after US officials confirmed its existence, centers on halting Iran's nuclear weapons development and eliminating the threat of its missile program. Under the plan, Iran would commit never to pursue nuclear weapons, dismantle nuclear facilities and transfer enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency for monitoring. Iran's ballistic missile program would be limited in range and quantity, and Tehran would cease funding regional proxy groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen.

The plan also calls for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as a free maritime corridor and provides for the lifting of all international sanctions. Full sanctions were reimposed last November after Iran suspended inspections of its nuclear facilities following United States and Israeli strikes on several of its nuclear sites and military bases.

Two Pakistani officials described the plan as also touching on civilian nuclear cooperation and access for shipping through the strait, through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies normally pass. Iran's closure of the waterway has sent energy prices rising and stoked fears of a global recession.

Iran's Counter-Conditions

Tehran's five stated conditions bear little resemblance to the US proposals. They include a complete halt to what Iran describes as aggression and assassinations, concrete guarantees that the war will not be reimposed on the country, payment of war reparations, and the right to retain sole control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also demands that Israel end its attacks on Iranian allies in the region.

The unnamed official cited by Press TV said these conditions are in addition to demands Tehran presented during negotiations in Geneva in February, shortly before the war began on Feb. 28 with joint US and Israeli airstrikes. Among the targets on the first day of the conflict was Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a strike on Tehran. Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtada Khamenei, has not been seen publicly since being wounded in the same attack.

Military Escalation Continues

Even as diplomatic channels remain open in theory, military activity on all sides has intensified. The Israeli military said early on March 25 it had launched wide-scale attacks on Iranian government infrastructure, with witnesses reporting strikes in the northwestern city of Qazvin. By afternoon, Israel said it had completed several waves of airstrikes in Tehran. 

Israel also said its strikes the previous day targeted an Iranian submarine development center in Isfahan. Missile alert sirens sounded across Israel as Iran launched retaliatory attacks, which have occurred daily since the war began.

In the Gulf, Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said it destroyed at least eight drones over its oil-rich Eastern Province. In Kuwait, one drone breached air defenses and struck a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire. Kuwait's UN ambassador Naser Abdullah H. M. Alhayen told the UN Human Rights Council that Iranian attacks on Gulf infrastructure posed an "existential threat."

Iran's death toll has surpassed 1,500, according to its Health Ministry. In Israel, 16 people have been killed, along with at least 13 US military members and more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states. Lebanese authorities report more than 1,000 people killed by Israeli strikes, with over one million displaced.

The United States is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the region. The Pentagon is also deploying two marine units that will add approximately 5,000 marines and thousands of sailors to the region. Reports have suggested US forces may be used to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or seize territory inside Iran.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the fighting "has broken past limits even leaders thought imaginable" and called on the United States and Israel to end the conflict. "My message to Iran is to stop attacking their neighbours," he added. Guterres announced the appointment of French diplomat Jean Arnault as his personal envoy on the conflict.

Israel's Economy Minister Nir Barkat told the BBC a deal remained unlikely. "I believe at the end of this round, we will accomplish the goals, with or without a deal," he said.