Iran on Wednesday rejected a US peace plan and laid out its own conditions for entering negotiations, setting a high bar.
Tehran’s hardball asks include the payment of war reparations and the recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
Even as the countries pass messages through Pakistan, Iranian officials insisted they were not in talks with Washington to end the nearly month-long conflict, with an Iranian military spokesperson saying the US was negotiating with itself.
The contradictions and uncertainty underscore the unusual dynamic that has defined the conflict: The White House threatened to “unleash hell” if a peace deal isn’t reached, while also signaling that the war would end before Trump’s rescheduled visit to China in mid-May.