Iran is reviewing U.S. proposals, as Trump says in ‘final stages’ of talks

Earlier, US President Donald Trump told reporters that Washington was in the “final stages” of negotiations with Iran.

“We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to do something a little bit nasty. But hopefully that doesn’t happen,” Trump said.

“I’m not in a rush. I just, ideally, I’d like to see very few people killed, not a lot of people killed,” he added.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baqaei said the Islamic Republic “has received the views of the United States and we are currently studying them.”

He reiterated Iran’s demands, including the release of Iran’s frozen assets abroad and an end to U.S. blockades of Iranian ports.

Tehran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had earlier said the United States wanted to restart the Middle East war after Trump said he would launch another attack unless Tehran agreed to a peace deal.

Ghalibaf warned Iran would respond “strongly” after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said any new war would spread beyond the Middle East.

“The enemy’s overt and covert actions show that despite economic and political pressure, it has not given up on its military objectives and is seeking to launch a new war,” Ghalibaf said.

-“Give diplomacy a chance”-

An April 8 ceasefire ended the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran that has roiled the global economy, but a war of words has taken its place as Washington and Tehran appear unwilling to resume fighting.

Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran to resume military action, and Iranian officials have hit back with warnings of their own.

“If aggression against Iran occurs again, the promised regional war will this time extend far beyond the region and our devastating strikes will destroy you,” the Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday.

However, despite sporadic violence, the two countries have continued diplomatic exchanges brokered by Pakistan aimed at formally ending the war.

Iran’s official Islamic News Agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Pakistan’s interior minister will visit Tehran, his second trip to Tehran in less than a week.

Global oil prices fell more than 5% on Wednesday on hopes of a deal.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Wednesday praised Trump’s decision to “give diplomacy a chance” and urged Iran to seize “the opportunity to avoid the dangerous effects of escalation.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel Eyal Zamir said the army was on the highest alert level “and prepared for any development.”

– Under pressure –

Trump is under pressure as rising energy costs begin to affect the country.

While the ceasefire ended fighting, it did not reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy said on Wednesday it had allowed 26 ships, including oil tankers, to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours following “coordination and security guarantees provided by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy.”

The U.S. has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports, and U.S. Central Command said Marines boarded an Iranian-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday that was suspected of trying to violate the blockade.

“U.S. forces released the ship after searching it and directing the crew to change course,” Central Command said on X.

It is said that the US military has adjusted the routes of 91 commercial ships to ensure compliance with the blockade regulations.

The future of the Strait of Hormuz is a key sticking point in the negotiations, but without a deal, concerns about the global economy will intensify as pre-war oil stocks are depleted.

The strait is also the conduit for about a third of the world’s fertilizers, the loss of which is driving up food prices and could lead to shortages.

On Wednesday, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the closure of the strait would trigger a “serious global food price crisis” and “systemic agricultural shocks.”

bur/jsa/amj

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.