Iran on Tuesday warned the United States that it must accept Tehran’s latest peace proposal or risk diplomatic failure, as tensions surrounding the fragile Middle East ceasefire continued to escalate.
Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Washington had no realistic alternative but to recognise the rights of the Iranian people outlined in Tehran’s 14-point proposal.
“There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people,” Ghalibaf wrote on X, warning that continued delays would only increase costs for the United States.
The latest exchange came after Donald Trump dismissed Iran’s response to a US peace framework as “totally unacceptable” and warned that the ceasefire in the Middle East conflict was close to collapse.
The war, triggered more than two months ago by joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread across the region, destabilising economies and threatening global energy supplies despite an uneasy truce.
Iran’s foreign ministry said its peace proposal called for an end to fighting throughout the region, including Lebanon, the lifting of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, and the release of Iranian assets frozen under sanctions.
The diplomatic deadlock has also intensified fears of a wider energy crisis. Iran has continued restricting maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and introduced toll measures for commercial vessels crossing the strategic waterway.
The standoff pushed global oil prices sharply higher and raised concerns about disruptions to energy and fertiliser supplies worldwide.
Amin Nasser, head of Saudi Aramco, described the current disruption as the largest energy supply shock ever experienced globally.
Meanwhile, Trump said he was considering reviving naval escort operations to guide oil tankers through Hormuz, though no final decision had been made ahead of his upcoming meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing.
The regional conflict also continued in Lebanon, where Israeli strikes in the south reportedly killed six people. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem vowed that his group would continue fighting and warned that Lebanon would become “hell for Israel” if attacks persisted.
