Donald Trump has said that he is “not satisfied” with Iran’s latest peace proposal to end the war which has killed thousands and triggered a global energy crisis.
Speaking to the media on Friday, the US president said he was uncertain whether a deal with Iran would be reached, warning that he would “blast them away” if negotiations failed.
“They want to make a deal, I’m not satisfied with it, so we’ll see what happens,” Trump said, as a ceasefire in the conflict continued for a third week.
The president added that he would prefer to reach an agreement that prevents a return to war, but threatened that a resumption of the conflict might be necessary.
“They’re asking for things I can’t agree to,” Trump said.
Stalled talks
Negotiations to end the war have been stalled for weeks. Talks in Islamabad, which began on April 11 and lasted for more than 21 hours, failed to produce even a basic framework for further discussions.
A ceasefire has been in place since April 8, freezing hostilities that began on February 28 after the US-Israeli attack on Iran. The pause has temporarily eased fears of a deepening conflict that could have catastrophic consequences for the region and beyond.
The international community remains eager for a deal that would end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz – through which 20 percent of the world’s shipments of oil and liquefied natural gas usually flow.
An Iranian diplomatic source told Al Jazeera that their country’s government submitted a new proposal to Pakistani mediators on Thursday.–Al Jazeera
