March 25 (UPI) — Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that Tehran has no plans to negotiate with the United States after the Trump administration offered a 15-point peace plan.
During a televised interview on state-run media, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said U.S. officials had been sending messages through intermediaries for “several days.”
U.S. officials who spoke to The New York Times and USA Today late Tuesday, said the United States sent a peace proposal through Pakistan, which earlier had offered to host talks between the two countries. The peace plan addressed Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, two of the key threats the administration and Israel cited for their decision to attack Iran.
Egypt has also offered to host peace talks.
Araghchi said passing messages through friendly countries doesn’t constitute “dialogue nor negotiation, nor anything of the sort.”
He added that Iran is focusing on defending itself against attacks and has “no intention of negotiating for now,” the BBC reported.
“This is Israel’s war, and people of the region and people of the U.S. are paying the price for it.”
U.S. officials said the proposed peace plan included lifting economic sanctions, limits on Iran’s missile program, making the Strait of Hormuz safe and winding down Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for cooperation on civilian nuclear energy — monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Destroying Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, launcher and production plants has been one of the main objectives of the U.S.-Israeli airborne military campaign, along with 970 pounds of enriched uranium; they are determined to prevent Iran from ever converting into a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s FARS news agency reported that an “informed source” said, “Iran does not accept a cease-fire.”
“Basically, it is not logical to enter into such a process with those who violate the agreement,” the source said.
Notwithstanding the assistance of Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshall Syded Asim Munir, said to have a direct line of communication to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps., communication with, and within, Iran is highly problematic, complicated by a civilian governance vacuum, damage to communications and officials reluctant to meet each other due to fear of being killed
There was no sign in Washington of any imminent let-up in the conflict on the ground.
“As President Trump and his negotiators explore this newfound possibility of diplomacy, Operation Epic Fury continues unabated to achieve the military objectives laid out by the commander-in-chief and the Pentagon,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
However, the offer to Tehran was being seen as evidence of the White House’s desire for an exit strategy from a costly war, now in its fourth week, with Persian Gulf allies being hit by Iranian missiles and drones round the clock and severe disruption to global energy supplies.
Earlier, reports emerged in U.S. media that at least 2,000 paratroopers from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division were being deployed from North Carolina to the Middle East, though it was unclear where, as Trump backs up his diplomatic maneuver with military pressure.
The soldiers from the 82nd’s Immediate Response Force are the only U.S. Army division with the ability to mount an airborne assault operation anywhere in the world within 18 hours of receiving orders.
They will join an amphibious force of thousands of U.S. Marines
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that the United States doesn’t have “boots on the ground” in the Middle East, but said Tehran should take heed of the U.S. military buildup.
“I think Iran should watch that buildup, and they need to take note of that,” he told reporters.
