live Iran Says It Rejects 'Unrealistic' US Peace Plan

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on March 26 that the United States has presented Iran with a "15-point action list" as a basis for negotiations to end the current conflict, adding that there are signs that Tehran is interested in reaching an agreement.

This is the first time the Trump administration has officially confirmed the presentation of such a plan to Iran. There have been previous reports that Pakistan had presented it to Iranian officials.

"We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them other than more death and destruction," Witkoff told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House.

"We have strong signs that this is a possibility," he added.

Witkoff also said that Pakistan acted as a mediator, confirming statements of Pakistani officials.

The United States and Israel have exchanged thousands of air and missile strikes with Iran, which has hit targets in Israel and its neighbors across the Gulf, including US bases and oil and gas facilities.

In this interactive map, click the flags below to show where Iran has been hit by US-Israeli strikes since February 28 and which countries Tehran has targeted in the region in retaliation.

The Pentagon is reportedly preparing a range of military options for a potential "final blow" against Iran, according to Axios, which cited two US officials and two additional sources familiar with the discussions.

In interviews, the sources outlined four major scenarios that US President Donald Trump could consider. These options include:

• invading or blockading Kharg Island, Iran's primary oil export hub
• invading Larak Island, which plays a key role in Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz
• taking control of Abu Musa and two nearby smaller islands, currently held by Iran but also claimed by the United Arab Emirates
• Blocking or seizing vessels transporting Iranian oil on the eastern side of the Strait of Hormuz

Axios also reports that US military planners have developed potential ground operations targeting Iran's interior, aimed at securing highly enriched uranium stored within nuclear facilities.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz says an Israeli air strike killed Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy.

"Last night, in a precise and lethal operation, the IDF eliminated the commander of the Revolutionary Guards' navy, Tangsiri, along with senior officers of the naval command," Katz said in a video statement on March 26.

He described Tangsiri as the man "who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to shipping."

Iran has not commented and the claim has not been picked up by mainstream Iranian media.

Some Israeli outlets say Tangsiri was killed in a strike on Bandar Abbas, a port city in the southern Hormozgan Province on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

Since the start of the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, Israel killed several top Iranian officials. Those have included Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and security chief Ali Larijani.

US President Donald Trump says Iranian negotiators should "get serious soon" on talks to end US-Israeli air strikes "before it is too late."

"They are 'begging' us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only “looking at our proposal,” Trump said in a social media post on March 27.

"They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!" he added.

A day earlier, Iran said it was reviewing a 15-point US peace plan and put forward what it said were five conditions that needed to be met in order for the conflict to end.

SEE ALSO:

What Is In The Iran Peace Plans?

In a separate post, Trump chided the NATO military alliance for not helping the United States in the campaign, adding that "the USA needs nothing from NATO."

Last week Trump asked NATO to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas transit route. Shipping in the waterway has ground to a virtual halt due to Iranian strikes on some vessels and threats of more from Tehran.

Several European countries that are in NATO said they were willing to consider helping once the conflict had ended, while others outright rejected the request, which came with no specifics.

The geographic spread, speed of escalation, and open disregard for international norms by all parties one month into the Middle East conflict are a critical stress test for the international legal order created to protect civilians during armed conflict, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a March 26 news release.

The New York-based human rights group warned that rhetoric and actions by leaders in the United States, Israel, and Iran show disregard for humanitarian law and risk enabling war crimes.

According to HRW, serious violations of the laws of war during the first month of conflict include a strike on a school in Minab, Israel's use of white phosphorus in Lebanon, and Iranian attacks on civilian sites and ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

A US investigation into the strike in Minab, a city in southern Iran, is ongoing, although preliminary assessments indicated that US forces were likely responsible.

HRW also warned that attacks -- as well as the threat of attacks -- on commercial ships in the crucial Strait of Hormuz and on oil and natural-gas facilities in Iran and the Gulf states have driven up global energy prices and could raise costs for food, transport, and agriculture worldwide.

Six Arab states strongly condemned Iran's direct and proxy attacks as violations of sovereignty, international law, and the UN Charter.

In a joint statement on March 25, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan condemned attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi factions targeting regional countries and infrastructure.

The states urged the Iraqi government to take the necessary measures to stop militias operating from its territory and to avoid further escalation.

The statement also denounced Iran-linked sleeper cells and Hezbollah-affiliated groups, reaffirming the right to self-defense in order to protect sovereignty, security and stability.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on March 26 said a diplomatic solution to the Iran war was needed "as soon as possible," calling the conflict a "catastrophe."

"This war is a catastrophe for the world's economies. The impact is absolutely evident already now..." he said during a meeting with Australian counterpart Richard Marles in Canberra.

"We have not been consulted before, nobody asked us before, it's not our war, and therefore we don't want to get sucked into that war, to make it crystal clear," Pistorius said.

Pistorius said if a cease-fire is agreed, Germany would discuss an operation to secure the peace, especially the freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the important oil transit waterway that Iran has effectively blocked, although Tehran is now allowing selection countries to pass through.

While assailing Tehran's hard-line regime, Germany has also been unusually critical of the United States for its war with Iran.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier this week called US President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran a “disastrous mistake” that violates international law.

US President Donald Trump on March 25 said Tehran was taking part in peace talks, despite official denials, because Iranian negotiators are afraid they will be killed by their "own people."

"They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly. But they're afraid to say it, because they figure they'll be killed by their own people," Trump told a dinner for Republican members of Congress.

"They're also afraid they'll be killed by us."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi earlier in the day said that "we do not intend to negotiate," although he acknowledged Tehran was reviewing a US proposal passed along by Pakistan.

Trump again said Iran was being "decimated" by US and Israeli forces in the war, now in its fourth week.

The White House said earlier that Trump was ready to "unleash hell" if Tehran did not admit defeat and accept the terms of the US peace proposal.

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Australia is banning visitors from Iran from entering the country for the next six months, saying the war in their home country would increase the chances of them not returning when their visas were up. Some 7,200 Iranians hold tourist visas and could be affected by the decision, officials said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the order would apply to all Iranians on tourist visas for the next six months, a move the government said was in the national interest amid rapidly changing global conditions.