Iran Defends 2-Day Proposal as US Calls Terms ‘Outrageous’
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday called its peace plan the most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the terms. Qatar's prime minister was due to meet President Donald Trump in Washington as the war entered its ninth month.
Iran defended its two-day proposal to end the war on Monday, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei calling it the most reasonable offer on the table, a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected its conditions as "outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic."
President Donald Trump was due to meet Qatar's prime minister in Washington on Monday as efforts to end the conflict ramp up following last week's US midterm elections. Senior US and Gulf officials have cast doubt on the chances of an imminent deal.
The war, launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, is now more than eight months old. Trump has played down the chance of major fighting restarting soon, but he remains unwilling to accept Iran's truce plan.
What Iran is offering
Under the plan, the US would end its blockade of Iranian ports, lift some sanctions and halt bombing. In return, Tehran would stop its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Talks on Iran's nuclear program and other sanctions would follow.
Iran has said the steps could be condensed into two days. The US has repeatedly rejected the plan.
Qatar's mediation
Sheik Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who is both prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, was to meet Trump and Vice President JD Vance. He visited Tehran last week. Qatar has been a prime mediator since early in the war, carrying messages between the sides.
Vance led negotiations for a short-lived truce in June. Senior Republicans, including Vance, have blamed their party's poor showing in the elections on the Iran war.
Rubio said he did not believe a diplomatic breakthrough was imminent. Anwar Gargash, a senior United Arab Emirates official, agreed that a comprehensive settlement looked difficult. "We should... prepare for a long period of uncertainty in which neither a decisive resolution nor stable regional order can be taken for granted," he said.
Trump said on Sunday that if the US keeps seeing progress and Iran signs a "strong agreement," it is "highly unlikely it's going to be necessary" to resume strikes. He said the US had identified infrastructure targets, including 38 bridges, that it would hit if military action restarts.
Attacks continue
The US struck Iran's Qeshm island overnight, according to Iranian state media. A provincial official told Iran's semi-official Fars news agency the strikes did not affect vital infrastructure or services. The US has not commented.
Attacks on tankers in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz rose sharply in October and have continued at the highest rate since the war began, according to figures from international maritime agencies. On Sunday, Iran said a tanker had hit a mine east of the strait.
Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi group said on Sunday it had struck an Aramco office building in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said an attack blew out windows across several floors of a building in the city's financial district, without naming who was responsible.
The war has triggered a global energy shortage and prompted Iranian strikes on Gulf Arab countries. It also spilled over into a major Israeli offensive in Lebanon and reignited Yemen's long-frozen civil war.
