LAST UPDATE | 25 Mar

IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER Abbas Araghchi has said the country has no plans to negotiate with the United States and that Tehran intended to keep fighting.

US president Donald Trump’s administration had offered a 15-point ceasefire plan, even as the US military was preparing to call up at least 1,000 more troops to supplement some 50,000 troops already in the Middle East.

“At present, our policy is the continuation of resistance,” Araghchi said on Iranian state television, adding: “We do not intend to negotiate – so far, no negotiations have taken place, and I believe our position is completely principled.”

“Speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat,” he said.

It comes after an unnamed senior official was quoted on Iranian state TV saying that Tehran had put forward its own proposal.

This includes ending “aggression and assassinations” against the country and its leaders, setting up a robust mechanism guaranteeing that neither Israel nor the US will resume the war, as well as compensation for the destruction caused, with a view to reconstruction.

Iran’s conditions also include a cessation of hostilities on all regional fronts and against all “resistance groups”, an implicit reference the Lebanese group Hezbollah among others.

The official is reported as saying Tehran also wants international recognition and guarantees of Iran’s rights to exercise its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranian rejection follows a mocking response to the US proposal from Iran’s military spokesperson, who asked: “Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?”

White House: ‘Talks continue’

The US and Israel began their war against Iran while negotiations brokered by Oman were ongoing. It was the second time Trump did so, after it joined an Israeli bombing campaign last year.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted the US and Iran are in ongoing talks, even as Iranian officials denied it.

“Talks continue. They are productive, as the president said on Monday, and they continue to be,” Leavitt said at a White House briefing this evening. 

She warned that if talks with Iran do not pan out, Trump “will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before”.

Earlier today, two senior Pakistani officials said that, in a effort to mediate, Islamabad had conveyed the American proposal to the Iranian government. 

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that his country is ready to “facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the conflict.

The US had agreed in principle to join talks in Pakistan, according to three Pakistani officials, one Egyptian official and a Gulf diplomat, while mediators were still working to convince Iran.

Related Reads

Is the US really negotiating with Iran, or is Trump making it all up?

More US troops

At least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to the Middle East in the coming days, three people with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press.

The 82nd Airborne is considered the US Army’s emergency response force and can typically be deployed on short notice.

It is the latest addition of American troops after US officials last week said thousands of Marines aboard several Navy ships would be heading to the region.

While the Marine units are trained in missions that include supporting US embassies, evacuating civilians and disaster relief, the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne are trained to parachute into hostile or contested territory to secure key territory and airfields.

The Marine deployment to the region raises speculation the US may try to seize Kharg Island, which is vital to Iran’s oil network. The US bombed the Persian Gulf island more than a week ago, hitting its defences but saying it had left oil infrastructure intact.

Iran has threatened to mine the Gulf if the US appears to be on the verge of invading. 

With reporting from AFP and Press Association