Iran has received an American 15-point plan for a ceasefire for their war through intermediaries from Pakistan, officials in Islamabad said on Wednesday. The proposal was sent even as Washington began to move paratroopers to the Middle East to back up a contingent of Marines already heading there.
Iran's military scoffed at the diplomatic efforts and launched more attacks yesterday on Israel and the Gulf region, including an assault that sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport, sending black smoke billowing into the sky.
The Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the 15-point plan broadly as touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and rocked world markets over fears of a global energy crisis.
At least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to the Mideast in the coming days, three people with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press.
The Pentagon is also in the process of deploying two Marine units that will add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that American officials are in negotiations with Iran, though he hasn't said who they are in contact with. Iran's Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands both the regular military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, suggested there are no talks.
“Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the headquarters.
“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,” Zolfaghari said in the video statement aired on state television. “Not now, not ever.”
Israeli officials, who have been advocating for Trump to continue the war against Iran, were surprised by the submission of a ceasefire plan, according to an official briefed on the proposal who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli military announced it had begun new wide-scale attacks early yesterday on Iran 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, which have been a daily occurrence since Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal said mediators from Türkiye, Egypt and Pakistan were pushing to have a meeting arranged between U.S. and Iranian officials by today but both sides remain far apart, citing Arab and U.S. officials.
Iranians initially said they would be open for talks but haven't given formal approval to a meeting in Islamabad, the officials added.
They told the mediators that they remain highly suspicious of the U.S., which the Iranians said has attacked twice under the Trump administration during high-level diplomatic talks, officials familiar with the discussions said. Media leaks of the talks have also angered Iran, the officials said.
Axios earlier reported the push for a meeting today.
