Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned the United States on Tuesday that failure to accept Tehran’s latest peace proposal would result in continued failure and escalating consequences for American taxpayers. This came after US President Donald Trump expressed concerns that the truce in the ongoing Middle East war was on the verge of collapse.
The war, which erupted more than two months ago following US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has caused widespread turmoil throughout the Middle East and has had a significant impact on the global economy. Despite the ceasefire, the conflict continues to affect hundreds of millions of people around the world. Both Iran and the US have repeatedly threatened to resume fighting, but neither side seems willing to return to all-out war.
In a post on X, Ghalibaf stated, “There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another.” He added, “The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it.”
Iran’s peace proposal was sent in response to an earlier US plan, details of which remain limited. According to media reports, the US plan included a one-page memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the fighting and establishing a framework for future negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran’s foreign ministry outlined in its response a call for ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, and securing the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad due to longstanding sanctions.
However, President Trump dismissed Iran’s response, calling it “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.” He further stated that the US would achieve a “complete victory” over Iran and emphasized that the truce, which has halted fighting for over a month, was on the brink of collapse.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards held drills in Tehran, which they said were aimed at “enhancing combat capability to confront any movement of the American-Zionist enemy,” according to state media reports on Tuesday.
The escalating war of words has created uncertainty among the people of Iran, who are increasingly unsure of what the future holds. “We are just trying to dig our nails into anything that could help us survive. The future is so uncertain and we are just living day to day,” said Maryam, a 43-year-old painter from Tehran. “We are trying to find a way to continue. Keeping hope is very difficult right now,” she added in an interview with Paris-based journalists.
