All eyes are on Tehran as the United States awaits Iran’s revised peace proposal, which could come by Friday, according to sources familiar with the mediation.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that negotiations to end the war with Iran are happening “telephonically” because “we’re not flying anymore” for 18-hour flights to Islamabad after the first round of in-person talks ended without a deal, and the second ended up canceled.
Trump said his response to any proposal from Iran will depend on how far they go on its nuclear program, saying “there will never be a deal unless they agree that there will be no nuclear weapons.”
Remember: Iran’s earlier proposal, which Trump rejected, called for ending the war first and dealing with Iran’s nuclear weapons at a later stage.
Catch up on the latest between the US-Iran:
- Iran’s response to Trump: Iran’s key negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Trump is trying to force Iran to “surrender” by applying economic pressure and exploiting internal divisions, Iranian media outlets reported. Ghalibaf said Iran’s adversaries were trying to weaken the country from within through what he described as “siege tactics and media manipulation.”
- Trump’s ramped up rhetoric: In another response to the current deadlock in peace talks, the US president posted a mocked-up image of himself holding a gun and wearing aviator sunglasses on his Truth Social platform, alongside the warning: “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”
- Vance on military readiness concerns: On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that it is his job to stay vigilant, while dismissing a report from The Atlantic that alleged he raised concerns about missile depletion amid the war with Iran. “Nobody who’s close to me was speaking to that reporter,” he said.
- Hegseth slams lawmakers: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed opposition to the ongoing war with Iran during a congressional hearing Wednesday, saying “the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans.”
- A 1.5-hour call with Putin: Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, discussed the Iran ceasefire and other topics during a 90-minute phone call on Wednesday. Trump said afterwards that Putin had offered to help with Iran’s uranium stockpile, and the president also told CNN the Ukraine and Iran wars could end “on a similar timetable.”
- Iranians to cut oil consumption: Tehran’s oil minister urged the public to cut consumption, calling “conservation and saving” a “religious duty” as he dismissed the impact of the US naval blockade.
- US troops in Germany: Trump said the US is considering reducing the number of troops in Germany, one day after he pushed back against German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s comments that the US was “being humiliated” by Iran.
CNN’s Nic Robertson, Sophie Tanno, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Alejandra Jaramillo, Donald Judd, Chris Isadore and Katrina Samaan contributed reporting.
