The White House urged Tehran to recognize that it has been defeated by the United States and Israel, warning that President Donald Trump is ready to "unleash hell" on Iran if it remains defiant.
The words of warning came after Iran appeared to dismiss a purported 15-point US plan to end the war that has killed thousands of people, spilled across the Persian Gulf, and roiled global energy markets.
"If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing on March 25.
Trump “does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again," she said.
The details of the US plan, reported by media outlets citing unnamed sources on March 24 and delivered to Iran by way of Pakistan, have not been made public, but it is widely believed to be similar in many respects to proposals made before the current conflict began with Israeli and US air strikes on February 28.
A response delivered via Iranian state television on March 25 said the US conditions are excessive and that Tehran will end the current war when it chooses and if its conditions are met.
Leavitt told reporters that the White House had not confirmed the "full plan" as reported in the media, adding: "There are elements of truth to it, but some of the stories I read were not entirely factual, so I am not going to negotiate on behalf of the president here at the podium."
While senior Iranian figures have denied Tehran is in talks with the United States, Leavitt said: "Talks continue. They are productive, as the president said on Monday (March 23), and they continue to be."
In the competing plans, new elements are thought to include demands by both sides concerning the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for global supplies of oil, gas, and other commodities that Iran is currently blocking.
US Demands
The single most important US demand is one that Trump has repeatedly stated. He also says that Iran has agreed to it.
“They’d like to make a deal,” he told reporters during an Oval Office event on March 24. “They’ve agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon.”
The United States and its allies, including Israel and major European nations, have been concerned about the prospect of Iran developing nuclear weapons for many years. Iran has always denied wishing to do so.
Even if this was true, Iran is now under new leadership and has now come under intense US and Israeli attacks that launched two wars -- the first one being June last year. The intentions of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has still not been seen since his appointment was announced on March 8, are inscrutable.
Likewise, it’s not entirely clear to what extent he or other players are currently calling the shots in Tehran, nor the degree to which senior Iranian officials are even able to communicate with each other amid ongoing air strikes that have killed so many top figures.
“The problem is that this government is fragmented. There are elements of the government that are fanatics, such as the [Islamic] Revolutionary Guards [Corps], who may try to kill officials who want to negotiate peace,” Frederick Fleitz, vice chairman of the America First Policy Institute, told RFE/RL.
The 15-point plan reportedly includes a 1-month cease-fire while details are worked out. The plan includes many other US demands, such as dismantling Iranian nuclear facilities, handing over enriched uranium stocks to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and agreeing not to enrich in the future.
Further points are said to put limits on Iran’s missile capabilities and an end to Iran’s support for regional proxy forces, such as Hezbollah, regarded as a terrorist organization by Washington.
While many of these were already US demands before the war, some, such as reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending Iranian strikes on regional energy facilities, would be a response to Iran’s wartime actions since February 28.
In return, Iran would see sanctions lifted and get US assistance with a civilian nuclear power program.
“The reported parameters of the US proposal do not lack ambition: Sanctions relief in return for sweeping Iranian concessions,” Naysan Rafati, senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, told RFE/RL.
“But if past is prelude, its feasibility would rest on the Islamic republic's willingness to fold under fire on what have long been its red lines. On the nuclear front, for example, Tehran has continued to insist on the right to uranium enrichment… It has also rejected the notion of negotiating over its missile program,” he added.
Iran’s Position
Iranian officials have not only said talks are not taking place, they’ve also mocked US statements on the matter, with military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari saying that the Trump administration was “negotiating with itself.”
“No one like us will make a deal with you. Not now. Not ever,” he added in comments on March 25.
Meanwhile, some of Tehran’s demands contradict US positions.
Examples include recognition of Iran’s control or authority over the Strait of Hormuz, along with the right to charge passage fees, and the right to an unrestricted missile program.
The Iranian demands also clearly cross US red lines, demanding Washington close its military bases in the Persian Gulf, pay war reparations, and guarantee that it will not attack Iran again.
“For now, at least, the promise of economic relief and pain of continued strikes seem unlikely to prompt Iranian compromise on the scale Washington seeks,” said Rafati. “The regime as a whole doesn't yet see its wartime position as desperate enough to agree to the US terms.”
Fleitz had a similar take.
“I think the biggest challenge is to get the Iranian regime to agree to anything. I think we're still in the process of getting them to agree to actually negotiate. I think we've made some progress with some initial queries, but we need to get an Iranian representative, sit down with the US or with an intermediary to start talking,” he said.
The back and forth come as both sides launched air attacks on March 25.
The semi-official Iranian SNN News Agency said a residential area was hit in Tehran, with rescuers searching the rubble.
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia both said they had intercepted drone attacks, while Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it launched new strikes against Israel and US bases in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain.
