By Gram Slattery, Asif Shahzad and Enas Alashray
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD/CAIRO, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was not satisfied with the latest Iranian proposal for talks on the Iran war, while Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran was ready for diplomacy if the United States changes its approach.
Trump’s comments indicated the deadlock over the two-month-old war is likely to persist, even as he looks to end a conflict that remains deeply unpopular among Americans.
Though the United States and Iran have suspended hostilities since an April 8 ceasefire, the two countries remain at odds over a range of issues, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions and control over the Strait of Hormuz, and the two sides have yet to agree to a second meeting, following a brief summit of senior officials in Islamabad last month.
It was unclear what the Iranians had submitted in their fresh proposal. Iran’s Foreign Ministry has cautioned against expecting quick results.
“They want to make a deal, but … I’m not satisfied with it,” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding that the Iranian leadership was “very disjointed” and split into two or three groups.
“They’re asking for things that I can’t agree to,” he said, adding that negotiations by phone were continuing.
Trump has repeatedly said Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. He is also under pressure to break Iran’s hold on the strait, which has choked off 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies.
Global oil prices, which remain well above $100 a barrel, had eased following news of the Iranian proposal. By Friday afternoon, Brent crude was at $110, down 2%.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country was ready to pursue diplomacy if the United States changes what he called its “excessive approach, threatening rhetoric and provocative actions.”
However, Araqchi added in a post on his Telegram channel that “Iran’s armed forces remained ready to defend the country against any threat.”
REPORTS ON PLANS FOR NEW STRIKES
Separately, Trump told leaders in Congress that he did not need their permission to extend the war beyond a Friday deadline set by law because the ceasefire had “terminated” hostilities.
“Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever? Or do we want to try and make a deal?” Trump said when asked about his options. He added that “on a human basis,” he did not prefer the military course of action.
The war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, has led to the deaths of thousands of people. The closure of the strait has increased concerns about the possibility of a wider global economic downturn.
The U.S. Navy is blockading exports of Iranian crude oil. As of Friday afternoon, 45 commercial vessels had been stopped, according to the U.S. military.
The U.S. Treasury warned that any shipper paying tolls to Iran for passage, including charitable donations to organizations such as the Iranian Red Crescent Society, would be at risk of punitive sanctions.
Reports that Trump was to be briefed on plans for new military strikes to compel Iran to negotiate had pushed oil prices up to a four-year high on Thursday.
Iran has activated air defences and plans a wide response if attacked, having assessed that there will be a short, intensive U.S. strike, possibly followed by an Israeli attack, two senior Iranian sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
IRAN SAYS TO BUY DOMESTIC
The conflict has aggravated Iran’s economic plight, but it looks able to survive a standoff for now, despite the U.S. blockade that has curtailed its energy exports.
In a written message, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei called on businesses damaged in the war to avoid layoffs as much as possible, Iranian news agencies reported.
Khamenei, the son of Iran’s former supreme leader who was killed at the outset of the war, also called for prioritizing the consumption of domestically manufactured goods.
China’s U.N. ambassador, Fu Cong, said it was an urgent necessity to maintain the ceasefire and that the strait needed to be reopened as quickly as possible.
He said he was sure the strait would be high on the agenda in talks between China’s leader Xi Jinping and Trump if it is still closed when Trump travels to Beijing this month.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Timothy Heritage, Aidan Lewis and Michael Martina; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Gareth Jones, Hugh Lawson, Will Dunham, Rod Nickel)
