Donald Trump has sent back to Iran a new, more stringent ceasefire proposal, while in recent days a deal between Washington and Tehran to end the war appeared to be nearing completion, US media pointed out yesterday.
According to the New York Times, citing officials with knowledge of the talks, the US president has hardened some of the terms of the earlier proposal and sent this new plan to Tehran.
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The NYT could not identify the changes the Republican president made to the terms of a deal. However, according to Axios, he wants to strengthen Washington’s position on several issues he considers important, such as the fate of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear materials.
Trump has repeatedly stated that Tehran cannot acquire nuclear weapons and has called for the destruction of Iran’s high enriched uranium stockpiles.
The nuclear issue is one of the main points of friction in negotiations to end the war that began on February 28 with the Israeli-American attack on the Islamic Republic.
Among the president’s other priorities is opening and denuclearising the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, which the latter has essentially closed since the start of the war.
Trump’s new conditions in this new proposal may further prolong the negotiations.
U.S. sources told Agence France-Presse that the White House occupant did not make a decision to sign a proposal that was on his desk Friday after a meeting in the Situation Room.
Later that evening, a White House official said Trump would only sign a deal with Iran if the “red lines” he has set are met.
