By Parisa Hafezi, Alexander Cornwell and Kanishka Singh
DUBAI/TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday to “get serious” about a deal to end nearly four weeks of fighting, after its foreign minister said Tehran was reviewing the U.S. proposal but that there were no talks on winding down the war.
Trump’s comments came as the economic and humanitarian toll of the conflict mounted, with fuel shortages spreading worldwide, sending companies and countries scrambling to contain the fallout.
“Indirect talks” between the U.S. and Iran are taking place through messages relayed by Pakistan, with other states including Turkey and Egypt also supporting mediation efforts, Pakistan’s foreign minister said.
But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said this did not amount to negotiation. “Messages being conveyed through our friendly countries and us responding by stating our positions or issuing the necessary warnings is not called negotiation or dialogue,” Araqchi said in comments broadcast late on Wednesday.
“At present, our policy is to continue resistance and defend the country, and we have no intention of negotiating,” he added.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday that Iran had been “militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback”, and was “begging” for a deal.
Calling Iranian negotiators “very different and ‘strange'”, he added: “They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty.”
MAXIMALIST POSITIONS
Though Araqchi’s comments suggested some willingness by Tehran to negotiate an end to the war if Iranian demands were met, any such talks would likely prove very difficult given the maximalist positions laid out by both sides.
A 15-point U.S. proposal to end the conflict includes demands ranging from dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme and curbing its missiles to effectively handing over control of the Strait of Hormuz, according to sources and reports.
But Iran has hardened its stance since the war began, demanding guarantees against future military action, compensation for losses, and formal control of the Strait, Iranian sources say. It also told intermediaries that Lebanon must be included in any ceasefire deal, regional sources said.
Trump has not identified who the U.S. is negotiating with in Iran, with many high-ranking officials among the thousands of people killed across the Middle East since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran has since launched strikes against Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf states.
An Iranian embassy official in Islamabad said talks in Islamabad were still on the table and Pakistan was the preferred venue for Tehran.
WAVES OF MISSILES
On Thursday, Iran launched multiple waves of missiles at Israel, triggering air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and other areas and injuring at least five people.
In Iran, strikes hit a residential zone in the southern city of Bandar Abbas and a village on the outskirts of the southern city of Shiraz, where two teenage brothers were killed, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said. A university building in Isfahan was reported to have been hit.
Israeli officials said Israel had killed the naval commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and that it had many more targets left as it degraded Iranian capabilities.
Still, Israel took Araqchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf off its hit-list after Pakistan urged Washington to press Israel not to target people who could be negotiating partners, a Pakistani source with knowledge of the discussion told Reuters.
A senior Israeli defence official said Israel was sceptical that Iran would agree to terms proposed by the U.S., and was concerned that U.S. negotiators might make concessions.
STOCK RALLY FADES, OIL PRICES RESUME RISE
Hopes of a resolution to the conflict that had boosted global stock markets in the previous session dimmed on Thursday, with oil prices resuming their surge. [MKTS/GLOB]
The fallout from the conflict, which has caused the worst energy shock in history, has spread far beyond the region.
With the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, effectively closed, businesses from airlines to supermarkets and used-car dealers are grappling with challenges including rising costs, weakening demand and disrupted supply chains.
Some governments are weighing support measures last used during the COVID pandemic. Farmers are struggling to source diesel for their tractors and tens of millions more people will face acute hunger if the war continues into June, the World Food Programme estimates.
Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of Abu Dhabi state oil company ADNOC, accused Iran of “economic terrorism”.
“No country can be allowed to destabilize the global economy in this way. Not now. Not ever,” Al Jaber said in a speech in the U.S. on Wednesday.
Exchanges of missiles and drones across the Gulf continued on Thursday.
In Abu Dhabi, two people were killed and three others injured by debris from an intercepted ballistic missile, the government said.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Lincoln Feast and Aidan Lewis; Editing by Michael Perry and Gareth Jones)
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