Iran returns serve to US in battle of diplomacy
Tehran demands release of frozen assets, ceasefire covering Lebanon in proposals
Iran has said the ball is now in the United States' court after Tehran delivered its latest proposals for ending the war via mediators Pakistan over the weekend.
As the war entered its third month, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi held a meeting with a number of foreign ambassadors in Tehran on Saturday to brief them on the country's proposals, according to a report by Mehr News Agency.
Gharibabadi insisted that Iran believes resolution lies in diplomacy based on national interests and that it was now up to the US to choose either that path or the continuation of a confrontational approach, adding that Tehran was ready for both eventualities as it seeks to safeguard its national security.
Reporting on the Iranian proposals on Sunday, Tasnim News Agency reported that Tehran's response to the USA's earlier nine-point proposal focused on putting an "end to the war".
In its proposal, the report said, the US had requested a two-month ceasefire, but that Iran stressed the issues "must be resolved within 30 days" and that the focus should shift to "ending the war" instead of extending the ceasefire.
Issues such as guarantees of non-aggression, the withdrawal of US military forces from the areas surrounding Iran and the lifting of Washington's naval blockade were among the topics included in Iran's 14-point proposal, according to the report.
Iran has also sought the release of frozen assets, the payment of compensation, the lifting of sanctions, and the ending of the US-Israeli war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, as well as a new mechanism for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said it is awaiting an official US response to the proposals.
US President Donald Trump said on his social media post that he was reviewing Iran's proposal, but could not imagine it would be "acceptable in that they (Iran) have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to humanity and the world over the last 47 years".
Trump also told reporters in Florida there is a possibility that strikes against Iran could restart. When asked about the prospect of US attacks resuming, Trump said that if Iran "misbehaves" or does "something bad" there is a "possibility it could happen". But right now, "we'll see," Al Jazeera reported the US president as saying.
Trump claimed that the US is "doing very well" in relation to Iran and that Tehran wants to make a deal because they are "decimated", adding that Iran was having a hard time "figuring out" who their leader is following the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
On Friday, Trump had bragged that the US Navy acted "like pirates" in its blockade of Iranian ports, saying "we took over the ship, we took over the cargo, we took over the oil. It's a very profitable business". ?
US media also reported that Washington is seeking to create an international coalition called the Maritime Freedom Construct to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei slammed Trump's remarks in a post on X on Sunday and urged the international community to take action.
"The President of the United States has openly described the unlawful seizure of Iranian vessels as 'piracy', brazenly boasting that 'we act like pirates'," Baghaei wrote.
"This was no verbal slip. It was a direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international maritime navigation.
"The international community, United Nations Member States, and the UN Secretary-General must firmly reject any normalization of such blatant violations of international law," he added.
Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com




























