President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Iran’s “president of the new regime” has asked the United States for a ceasefire.
But the US will “consider” the proposal only when the Strait of Hormuz is “open, free and clear”, Trump said. true social.
“Until then, we are sending Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Age!!!” He has written.
Tehran denies it has requested ceasefire, Al Jazeera informed Later on Wednesday morning, citing an unnamed Iranian official.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Tehran does not want a ceasefire but wants an end to the war.
“There are currently no negotiations,” Araghchi told the outlet in an interview, according to translation.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for additional information on the dispute over the alleged ceasefire request.
It was not clear whether any request was made directly to the US, as Trump’s post suggested, or whether it came through an intermediary such as Pakistan.
And even if President Massoud Pezeshkian has called for a ceasefire, he may not have the last word: Iran’s supreme leader, not its president, has the final authority in the Islamic Republic.
The current supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has avoided public appearances since the assassination of his father, former Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an airstrike at the beginning of the war.
The two sides have frequently refuted each other’s claims about the existence and status of peace-agreement talks since the war began with American and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
Trump’s Truth Social announcement came just hours before he was to give a “significant update on Iran” in an address to the nation, according to the White House.
The address is scheduled for 9 pm ET.
The month-old war has quickly caused widespread economic turmoil and huge fluctuations in global energy prices. The unrest is largely linked to Iran’s continued ability to effectively block the Strait of Hormuz, the route for a large share of the world’s oil shipments.
Trump has acknowledged that the Strait remains a significant obstacle in the war, even as he and other administration officials insist that Iran’s military has been “destroyed” and that the US is rapidly achieving its goals.