ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON/DUBAI — In a potential breakthrough, Tehran has submitted a new proposal for negotiations with the United States, according to Iranian state media and a Pakistani official on Friday. This development may pave the way for resolving the ongoing conflict in Iran.
A Pakistani official, who is actively mediating the situation, revealed that Pakistan received the proposal late Thursday and promptly forwarded it to the United States.
While specifics of the proposal were not disclosed by either the Pakistani official or the Iranian state news agency IRNA, the White House chose not to comment but confirmed that negotiations are ongoing.
In response to the news of the proposal, global oil prices, which have been exceeding $100 a barrel, experienced a slight decline.
The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz has severely disrupted energy markets by halting 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies, leading to unprecedented increases in oil prices.
This blockade of the crucial shipping route has also sparked fears of an impending economic downturn.
The US Navy is blocking exports of Iranian crude oil, and on Friday the US Treasury warned shippers that they risked sanctions if they paid tolls to Iran to pass through the strait.
A cease-fire has been in place since April 8, but reports that President Trump was to be briefed on plans for new military strikes to compel Iran to negotiate had pushed global oil prices up to a four-year high at one point Thursday.
Iran has activated air defenses and plans a wide response if attacked, having assessed that there will be a short, intensive US strike, possibly followed by an Israeli attack, two senior Iranian sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
‘Treacherous aggression’
Washington has not said what its next steps are. Trump said Tuesday he was unhappy with the previous proposal from Iran, and Pakistan has not set a date for new talks on ending a war that has killed thousands, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.
After US and Israeli airstrikes on February 28, Iran fired at US bases, infrastructure and US-linked companies in Gulf states, while the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel, which responded with strikes on Lebanon.
Underlining the concerns of the Gulf states, UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said the “collective international will and provisions of international law” were the primary guarantors of freedom of navigation through the strait.
“And, of course, no unilateral Iranian arrangements can be trusted or relied upon following its treacherous aggression against all its neighbors,” Gargash wrote.
Trump faces a formal US deadline on Friday to end the war or make the case to Congress for extending it under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.
The date looks set to pass without altering the course of the conflict after a senior administration official said that, for the purposes of the resolution, hostilities had terminated due to the April cease-fire between Tehran and Washington.
Financial and energy markets remained on edge because of concerns about the impasse over negotiations and worries that there could be a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran says not to expect quick results from talks
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei cautioned on Thursday against expecting quick results from talks.
A senior official of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said any new US attack on Iran, even if limited, would usher in “long and painful strikes” on US regional positions, while Aerospace Force commander Majid Mousavi was quoted by Iranian media as saying: “We’ve seen what happened to your regional bases; we will see the same thing happen to your warships.”
Trump repeated on Thursday that Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and said the price of gasoline — an important concern for his Republican Party before midterm elections in November — would “drop like a rock” as soon as the war ended.
Iran says its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes.
The conflict has aggravated Iran’s economic plight, but it looks able to survive a standoff for now, despite the US blockade that has curtailed its energy exports.
Axios news site reported that one plan to be shared with Trump during a briefing by top US military leaders that was scheduled for Thursday involved using ground forces to take over part of the strait to reopen it to commercial shipping.
Trump is also considering extending the US blockade or declaring a unilateral victory, officials have said.
Washington did not immediately announce any details of its plans.
In a sign that the US was also envisaging a scenario where hostilities cease, a State Department cable due to be delivered orally to partner nations by May 1 invited them to join a new coalition, called the Maritime Freedom Construct, to enable ships to navigate the strait.
France, Britain and others have held talks on contributing to such a coalition but said they would help to open the strait only when the conflict ends.
