Iran dismisses US ceasefire plan and issues its own counterproposal

Iran has dismissed an American plan to pause the war in the Middle East and launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries, including an assault that sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport.

Iran’s foreign minister said his government does not plan any negotiations to end the war.

In an interview with Iranian state TV, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said his government has not engaged in talks to end the war, “and we do not plan on any negotiations”.

Earlier, two officials from Pakistan, which transmitted the US plan to Iran, described the 15-point proposal broadly, saying it addressed sanctions relief, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear programme, limits on missiles and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped.

An Egyptian official involved in the mediation efforts said the proposal also includes restrictions on Iran’s support for armed groups.

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

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

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

Some of the points in the US ceasefire proposal were non-starters in negotiations before the war: Iran has insisted it will not discuss its ballistic missile programme or its support of regional militias, which it views as key to its security.

And its ability to control passage through the Strait of Hormuz represents one of its biggest strategic advantages.

Iran’s attacks on regional energy infrastructure along with its restrictions on the strait have sent oil prices skyrocketing, putting pressure on the US to find a way to end the chokehold and calm markets.

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 paratroopers are trained to jump into hostile or contested areas to secure key territory and airfields.

The Pentagon is also in the process of sending about 5,000 more Marines, trained in amphibious assaults, and thousands of sailors to the region.

The 15-point plan now in Iranian hands is “a comprehensive deal” to reach a ceasefire, according to the Egyptian official.

Mediators are pushing for possible in-person talks between the Iranians and the Americans, perhaps as soon as Friday in Pakistan, the Egyptian and Pakistani officials said.

Speaking on Tuesday at the White House, Mr Trump said the US is “in negotiations right now” and that the participants included special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, secretary of state Marco Rubio and vice president JD Vance.

He has not said who from Iran they are in contact with.

“We have a number of people doing it,” Mr Trump said. “And the other side, I can tell you, they’d like to make a deal.”

Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands both the regular military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, dismissed the idea of talks.

Iranian leaders have repeatedly denied they are happening, while acknowledging that the foreign minister is in contact with various countries but not the US or Israel.

“Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way – someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you,” Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the headquarters, said in a video statement on state television.

“Not now, not ever.”

Israeli officials, who have been advocating for Mr Trump to continue the war against Iran, were surprised by the submission of a ceasefire plan, according to a person who was briefed on the contours of the proposal and also confirmed it had been submitted.

Any talks between the US and Iran would face monumental challenges.

It is not clear who in Iran’s government has the authority to negotiate or would be willing to, as Israel has vowed to continue killing the country’s leaders.

Iran remains highly suspicious of the United States, which twice under the Trump administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the February 28 strikes that started the current war.

“We have a very catastrophic experience with US diplomacy,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told India Today on Tuesday.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres criticised the various factions of the ongoing conflict, saying the fighting “has broken past limits even leaders thought imaginable”.

He urged the US and Israel to end the war with Iran and called on Tehran to stop attacking Gulf countries, saying “this has gone too far”.

The Israeli military announced new wide-scale attacks on Iran early on Wednesday, targeting government infrastructure, and witnesses reported airstrikes in the northwestern city of Qazvin.

Missile alert sirens sounded multiple times in Israel as Iran launched its own attacks.

Iran also kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, and Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed at least eight drones in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province, and missile alert sirens sounded in Bahrain.

Kuwait said it shot down multiple drones but one hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, the General Civil Aviation Authority said.

Iran’s death toll has passed 1,500, its health ministry has said. In Israel, 16 people have died. At least 13 US military members have been killed, and more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.

Authorities say more than 1,000 people have died in Lebanon, where Israel has targeted the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group, which has also fired on Israel.

The news of potential negotiations drove down the price of oil, after it skyrocketed in recent weeks.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has neared 120 dollars a barrel during the conflict but was trading below 100 dollars on Wednesday. It is still up about 35% from the start of the war.

Economists and leaders have warned of far-reaching effects if energy prices remain high – from rising prices of food and other basics to higher rates for mortgages and car loans.

A big driver of the rise in the oil price has been Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open sea.

Iran has allowed a small number of ships through the strait, but has said no ships from the US, Israel or countries seen as linked to them can pass.