Iran weighs U.S. peace offer as Trump signals brief deadline

Iran said it had received the American side’s latest views and was reviewing them, as Donald Trump signaled he would wait only “a couple of days” for Tehran to respond before deciding whether diplomacy could still hold. The president said the situation was “right on the borderline” between a peace deal and renewed attacks, sharpening the pressure on negotiators already racing against a shrinking deadline.

Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said Iran had received the proposal and was studying it. That response kept the door open, but it did not answer the central question hanging over the talks: whether Tehran would accept a deal that ends the conflict without resolving the core disputes that have driven it for years. Trump had previously dismissed Iran’s response to an earlier peace proposal as “totally unacceptable,” then said he could still wait a few days to avoid more fighting.

The latest U.S. proposal appears to leave major issues unsettled, including Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief, the fate of frozen Iranian assets and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. That matters because the strait is one of the world’s most sensitive energy chokepoints, and any disruption would immediately reverberate through oil markets and shipping costs. In earlier replies, Tehran reportedly demanded war reparations, an end to sanctions, sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and the release of frozen assets, a list of concessions that would require Washington to accept far more than a narrow ceasefire.

Pakistan stepped up diplomatic efforts to keep the talks moving, according to Reuters, playing a mediation role as both sides searched for a formula that could stop the slide back into war. The push came as analysts and reporting described the latest phase as a narrow window to prevent escalation, after earlier ceasefire and negotiation efforts failed and deadlines were repeatedly missed or shifted.

The stakes now go beyond the wording of a proposal. If Tehran accepts a version that leaves the nuclear issue unresolved, it risks appearing to concede under pressure without winning sanctions relief or asset access. If it refuses, Trump has already indicated the United States could resume attacks, putting the region back on a path toward confrontation. For now, the diplomacy is still alive, but only barely, and both sides are treating the coming days as a final test of whether the crisis can end at the negotiating table or spill back into war.