Pakistan delivered US proposal to Iran, senior Iranian source tells Reuters

Iran has rejected a US proposal aimed at ending the ongoing war, saying any ceasefire would take place only on Tehran’s terms and timeline, a senior political-security official told the state-run Press TV on Wednesday.

The official said Iran responded negatively to the American initiative, stressing that the end of the “imposed war” would depend solely on conditions set by the Islamic Republic.

According to the official, Iran outlined five conditions for ending the war, including a complete halt to “aggression and assassinations.”

The conditions also include establishing concrete mechanisms to ensure the war is not reimposed on Iran, as well as “guaranteed and clearly” defined payment of war damages and reparations.

Tehran further called for the conclusion of the war across all fronts and for all “resistance groups” involved throughout the region.

The official also stressed the need for international recognition and guarantees of Iran’s sovereign right to exercise authority over the Strait of Hormuz.

The US sent Iran a 15-point plan aimed at resolving the conflict in the Middle East, a report said Tuesday.

The New York Times, citing two officials briefed on the diplomacy, said the proposal was delivered via Pakistan and outlines steps addressing Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs as well as maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US and Israel have been carrying out airstrikes on Iran since February 28, killing more than 1,340 people so far, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel along with Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.

Read More: Iran denies talks with US as Trump claims ‘major points of agreement’

Earlier on Wednesday it was said that Pakistan delivered a proposal from the United States to Iran, and either Pakistan or Turkiye could be venues for discussions to de-escalate the war in the Gulf, a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

The ​comments, on condition of anonymity, were among rare signs that Tehran might consider diplomatic proposals, despite insisting in public that no talks were under way and it would make no deal with ‌the administration of US President Donald Trump.

The Iranian source did not disclose details of the proposal passed on by Pakistan, or whether it was the same as a 15-point US framework previously reported by news outlets including Reuters. The source said Turkiye had also “helped to end the war and either Turkey or Pakistan was under consideration as the venue for such talks”.

Oil prices fell and battered shares recovered on Wednesday after reports that the US had sent the 15-point plan to Iran, with investors hoping for an end to nearly four weeks of ​war that has killed thousands and disrupted global energy supplies.

A source familiar with the matter had confirmed on Tuesday to Reuters that the plan had been sent to Iran.

Three Israeli cabinet sources said Prime Minister ​Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet had been briefed on the proposal, which they said included removing Iran’s stocks of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile programme and ⁠ending funding for regional allies.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is planning to send thousands of airborne troops to the Gulf to give Trump more options to order a ground assault, sources have told Reuters, adding to two contingents of Marines already on ​their way. The first Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard a huge amphibious assault ship could arrive around the end of the month.

No deal with Trump: Iranian military

Pakistan has already offered to host talks attended by senior US officials as ​soon as this week. A senior ruling party official in Turkiye, Harun Armagan, told Reuters on Wednesday that Ankara was also “playing a role passing messages” between Iran and the US.

But so far there has been no public recognition from Iran that it is willing to negotiate at all, while its assertions that it would not do so have become increasingly caustic.

“Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself?” the top spokesperson for Iran’s joint military command, Ebrahim Zolfaqari, taunted Trump in comments on Iranian ​state TV.

“People like us can never get along with people like you,” he said. “As we have always said … no one like us will make a deal with you. Not now. Not ever.”

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Beghaei, appearing on ​television in India, noted that nuclear talks had already been under way when Trump attacked, which he called “a betrayal of diplomacy” that proved further talks were pointless.

There are “no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States”, he said. “No one can trust United ‌States diplomacy. ⁠Our position is clear on what they have claimed. Right now, our brave military is focused on defending Iran’s territory and sovereignty against this brutal and illegal war.”

A senior Israeli defence official said Israel was sceptical Iran would agree to the terms, and that Israel was concerned that the terms were only starting points for negotiations, during which US negotiators might make concessions.

Trump’s softer stance soothes markets

A source familiar with Israel’s war plans said Israel wanted any US-Iranian agreement to preserve Israel’s option to conduct pre-emptive strikes.

Trump, who early in the war had said it would end only with Tehran’s “unconditional surrender” and his choosing Iran’s leaders, has abruptly changed tack this week, declaring that “productive” talks had been under way for days with unspecified ​Iranian officials.

His softer stance, which included postponing a threat ​to escalate the bombing by attacking Iran’s civilian energy ⁠system, caused a respite in financial markets, which have see-sawed but largely stabilised since Monday.

But Iran has consistently maintained that no such talks have taken place, and derided Trump’s announcement as an attempt to buy time and placate the markets.

Meanwhile, the war has raged on with no let-up in air attacks against Iran, or ​in Iranian drone and missile strikes against Israel and US allies.

An Israeli military official, asked whether Israel had adjusted its military plans since Trump said talks were under ​way with Iran, said it ⁠was “pretty much business as usual”.

The Israeli military described several new waves of attacks on Iran during the day, including one on Iran’s construction of ships and submarines.

The semi-official Iranian SNN News Agency said strikes had hit a residential area in Tehran, with rescuers searching the rubble.

Also Read: No negotiations between US, Iran have taken place

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia said they had repelled fresh drone attacks. Drones targeted a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, causing a fire but no casualties, Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Authority said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had launched a new ⁠wave of attacks ​against locations in Israel including Tel Aviv and Kiryat Shmona, as well as US bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain.

Since the start of “Operation Epic ​Fury” by the US in February, Iran has attacked countries that host US bases and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.

Iran has told the United Nations Security Council and the International Maritime Organization that “non-hostile vessels” may transit ​the Strait of Hormuz if they coordinate with Iranian authorities. In practice, however, only Iran’s own oil and a handful of ships from friendly countries have made it through.

The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28 after saying they had failed to make enough headway in talks aimed at ending Iran’s nuclear programme, although mediator Oman said significant progress had been made. The US struck Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025.

Pakistan offers to hold US-Iran talks

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday he was willing to host talks between the US and Iran on ending the war, ⁠a day after ​Trump postponed threats to bomb Iranian power plants after what he called “productive” talks.

Pakistan has long-standing ties to neighbouring Iran’s Islamic Republic and ​has been building a relationship with Trump.

Despite reports of negotiations, the Pentagon is expected to send thousands from the US Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, adding to a massive US military ​buildup.

The forces will add to the 50,000 US troops already in the region and accelerate Washington’s massive US military buildup there, fuelling fears of a longer conflict.