Iran did not ask the US to postpone strikes on its energy facilities for another 10 days.
This was told to The Wall Street Journal by mediators in the negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
Before that, President Donald Trump reported that he was suspending US attacks on Iranian energy facilities for 10 days — until April 6. According to him, this was requested by the Iranian authorities as part of the negotiations, which are ongoing and "progressing very successfully".
However, Iran says it did not ask for this. Also, according to the mediators, Iran has not yet provided a final response to the 15-point plan to end the war proposed by the United States. One of the points of this plan is Iranʼs abandonment of its nuclear program, which the US president previously stated that Tehran had allegedly agreed to.
Meanwhile, Iranian officials have told mediators they are interested in talks but are asking the US to scale back its demands before agreeing to a meeting to discuss a potential ceasefire.
In particular, Tehran refuses to consider its missile program as a subject of negotiations and is not ready to commit to a complete cessation of uranium enrichment.
According to mediators, the chances of reaching a ceasefire remain low, as both sides are making maximalist demands that are unacceptable to each other.
War in the Middle East
On the morning of February 28, the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran. These attacks killed Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and almost the entire military leadership of the country — about 40 key high-ranking officials. A new ayatollah was elected on March 8, and he was Mojtaba Khamenei (the son of the deceased Ali Khamenei).
Iran, in response to the US and Israeli attacks, has begun shelling US bases in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE and firing missiles at Israel. Some Iranian drones and missiles have hit infrastructure and residential areas in Arab countries.
The war has halted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea corridor between Iran and Oman that connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean. About a fifth of the worldʼs oil exports pass through it, tens of millions of barrels a day. Markets reacted immediately, sending oil, gas and precious metals soaring in price.
In particular, on March 9, world oil prices exceeded $100 per barrel for the first time in almost four years.
To keep prices down, the International Energy Agency decided to release 400 million barrels of oil. On March 12, the United States lifted sanctions on the purchase of Russian oil that was stuck at sea for 30 days, and a week later, permission was granted for Iranian oil.
On March 22, Axios reported that the Trump administration had begun discussing a possible peace deal with Iran. Iranʼs demands include a ceasefire, guarantees that war will not resume in the future, and compensation.
In return, the US wants Iran to make 6 commitments:
- to abandon the missile program for five years;
- zero uranium enrichment;
- to decommission the nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow, which the US and Israel bombed last year;
- strict external control over the creation and use of nuclear centrifuges and related equipment;
- arms control agreements with countries in the region limiting missiles to 1 000 units;
- to stop funding proxy forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, or Hamas in Gaza.
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