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US President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that Iran’s new leadership had asked Washington for a ceasefire, saying the US would consider the request only if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, Anadolu reports.
“Iran’s new regime president, much less radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a ceasefire,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Washington would consider the request only when the strait is “open, free, and clear,” he said, warning it would continue striking Iran “into oblivion or, as they say, back to the stone ages” in the meantime.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei rejected Trump’s claim, saying Tehran asking for a ceasefire does not reflect reality.
Axios, citing three US officials, reported that discussions are underway about a ceasefire in exchange for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Officials said Trump was actively discussing the possibility with figures inside and outside his administration, but cautioned that it remained unclear whether a deal could be reached. Sources did not specify whether the discussions were taking place directly with Iran or through mediators such as Pakistan.
READ: Iran seeks no ceasefire but complete end to war: Foreign minister
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi previously said contacts with the US do not constitute negotiations, but are limited to the exchange of messages — directly or through regional intermediaries.
Trump has repeatedly described Iran’s new leadership as “much more reasonable” than its predecessors, telling NBC News earlier this week that the war was “coming to an end” and that the US had achieved “total regime change.” He also said Washington was in contact with Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 million barrels of oil pass daily, has been effectively disrupted since early March, driving up global oil prices and raising fears of prolonged economic damage.
The US and Israel have struck Iran since Feb. 28, killing more than 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran has retaliated with strikes across the region, causing casualties and infrastructure damage.
READ: Pakistan and China put forward five-point plan to ease Middle East tensions
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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