Iran says it rejected US peace proposal as it meant surrendering to Trump’s 'excessive demands'

WASHINGTON, DC: After President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s response to the US’ peace proposal as “totally unacceptable,” Tehran maintained that its reply was a rejection of Washington’s offer.

Iranian state television reports that the nation had rejected the new US plan, arguing that accepting it would signal surrendering to Trump’s “excessive demands,” Fox News reported.

The outlet also cited Tasnim News Agency, which reported that a source claimed the POTUS' dissatisfaction with Iran’s response was “naturally better.”

Iran’s response to US peace talks

Trump, on Sunday, May 10, took to his Truth Social to state that he had examined Iran’s reply to the US peace proposal for ending the Middle East conflict, but ultimately rejected it, calling the response “totally unacceptable.”

In his post, the POTUS didn’t offer any details of Iran’s response. Still, media reports stated that the Mideast country’s reply, sent through Pakistani mediators, stressed the need to end the war on all fronts and to lift sanctions on Tehran.

The proposal called for the US Office of Foreign Assets Control to suspend sanctions on Iranian oil exports for a 30-day window while also demanding an end to the naval blockade imposed on the country, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The agency also cited a source who noted that Iran’s demands include “Iranian management of the Strait of Hormuz if certain commitments are undertaken by the US.”

According to multiple reports published earlier this week, the Trump administration’s proposal called for the Islamic Republic to halt uranium enrichment in exchange for relief from US sanctions.

But this proposal was rejected by Iran in the new response. Instead, Iran reportedly pushed for separate negotiations on nuclear issues, proposing that part of its highly enriched uranium be diluted while the remaining portion be transferred to a third country. 

Trump says US will not allow Iran to reach enriched uranium

This came as Trump repeated his warnings of targeting any Iranian trying to reach the country’s highly enriched uranium, saying that the nuclear material is under constant surveillance by the US military.

On Sunday, the president appeared on 'Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson', where he appeared to downplay concerns over the uranium still believed to be buried beneath the destroyed nuclear facilities in Iran, suggesting its continued presence there was not an immediate issue.

“We’ll get that at some point, whenever we want. We have it surveilled,” Trump said.

“I did a thing called Space Force, and they are watching. If somebody walked in, they can tell you his name, his address, the number of his badge … If anybody got near the place, we will know about it, and we’ll blow them up,” he asserted.

Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains one of the biggest obstacles in ceasefire negotiations between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending the 10-week US-Israel conflict with Iran