Iran pushes for end to war within 30 days as Trump expresses doubts

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the United States faced a choice between an "impossible" military operation or a "bad deal" with Tehran, after President Donald Trump disparaged Iran's latest peace proposal.

Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire began on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far.

Iranian media reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it.

"I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can't imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

US news website Axios reported, citing two sources briefed on the proposal, that it set "a one-month deadline for negotiations on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the US naval blockade and permanently end the war in Iran and in Lebanon."

In a statement on Sunday, the Revolutionary Guards sought to put the onus back on Trump, saying he must choose between "an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran". 

"The room for US decision-making has narrowed," they said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran on Saturday that "the ball is in the United States' court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach".

Iran, he said, was "prepared for both paths".

Confronting 'pirates'

Speaking in Florida on Saturday, the US president declined to specify what could trigger new American military action.

"If they misbehave, if they do something bad, but right now, we'll see," he said. "But it's a possibility that could happen, certainly."

Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iranian forces would sink US ships. 

"The US is the only pirate in the world that possesses aircraft carriers. Our ability to confront pirates is no less than our ability to sink warships. Prepare to face a graveyard of your carriers and forces," he said.

US media reported earlier in the week that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff had asked for Tehran's nuclear programme to be put back on the negotiating table.

But Iran's mission to the UN pointed to the massive US nuclear arsenal, accusing Washington on Saturday of "hypocritical behavior" towards Iran's own atomic ambitions.

Managing Hormuz and economy

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Oil prices are about 50 percent above pre-war levels.

The deputy speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Nikzad, said that under draft legislation being considered for managing the strait, 30 percent of tolls collected would go towards military infrastructure, with the rest earmarked for "economic development".

"Managing the Strait of Hormuz is more important than acquiring nuclear weapons," he said.

In Iran, the war's economic toll is deepening, with oil exports curtailed and inflation surging past 50 percent.

The Iranian rial was trading at 1.3 million to the dollar in December, which at the time was a record low, and triggered widespread protests over the worsening economy. Markets in Tehran remain unstable, with prices of some goods rising daily.

According to reports published in Iranian media, several factories have not renewed contracts for workers after the Iranian new year holidays, and significant numbers have lost their jobs.

Yousef Pezeshkian, the son and adviser of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, wrote on Telegram that both the US and the Islamic Republic see themselves as the winner of the war and are unwilling to back down.