US President Donald Trump branded Iran’s terms for ending the Middle East war “totally unacceptable”, raising the possibility of fresh conflict and sending oil prices sharply higher in early Asian trade on Monday.
Iran had on Sunday responded to Washington’s latest peace proposal and warned it would not hold back from retaliating against any new US strikes or permit more foreign warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump made clear in a post on his Truth Social platform that he would reject Tehran’s counter-proposal, though he did not offer details on its contents.
“I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Trump said.
The impasse unnerved global energy markets, with international benchmark Brent crude prices rising 4.65 percent to $99.95 a barrel during Monday morning trade in Asia.
Benchmark US oil contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also surged by just over 4 percent to $105.5 a barrel, as investors braced for further disruptions to supplies through the strait, where Tehran has imposed a partial blockade.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — whose forces launched the war on Iran along with the United States on February 28 — also insisted the conflict would not end until Iran’s nuclear facilities were removed.
“It’s not over, because there’s still nuclear material — enriched uranium — that has to be taken out of Iran. There are still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled,” Netanyahu told CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Tehran has publicly maintained a defiant line during diplomatic efforts to bring the warring sides back to the negotiating table.
“We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted to X on Sunday.
According to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran’s response to the US plan, passed to Pakistani mediators, focuses on ending the war “on all fronts, especially Lebanon” — where Israel has kept up its fight with Iran-backed Hezbollah — as well as on “ensuring shipping security.”
It provided little further detail, though the US proposal had reportedly focused on extending the truce in the Gulf to allow for talks on a settlement of the conflict and Iran’s contested nuclear program.
Trump is expected to press China’s President Xi Jinping — a major buyer of Iranian oil — on the Iran issue when he visits Beijing on Thursday, according to a senior US official.
