Donald Trump said on Monday that the month-long US ceasefire with Iran was “on massive life support” after he rejected Tehran’s counterproposal for a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The US president, speaking in the Oval Office, said Iran’s response to a US proposal was “unacceptable” and “stupid”.
Tehran’s proposal failed to include a provision that he said its negotiators had mentioned “two days ago” – allowing for the US or China to remove the buried remains of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“That piece of garbage they sent us – I didn’t even finish reading it,” Trump told reporters during an event on maternal healthcare.
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“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support,” he said, with only “a 1 per cent chance of living”.
Since the fragile ceasefire came into effect on April 8th, mediators, led by Pakistan, have sought to broker a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and secure an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.
But the diplomatic push has failed to bridge big gaps and mistrust between the parties, both of which believe they have the upper hand.
The two sides have pushed the truce to the brink in recent days, exchanging fire in the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway that has in effect been shut since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28th.
Iran has also fired missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf state that has borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliatory strikes.
Trump at the weekend branded Iran’s latest response “totally unacceptable” – remarks that triggered another sharp rise in oil prices.
Trump said he would be meeting “a large group of generals” on Monday afternoon to discuss Iran.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran’s demands were not “excessive” but “reasonable, responsible and generous”.
Iran’s response called for the lifting of US sanctions, an end to the war “on all fronts” – a clear reference to Israeli strikes in Lebanon – and for “Iran’s management” of the Strait of Hormuz, according to an unnamed official quoted in Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards.
It demanded an end to the US blockade on Iran’s imports and exports through its southern port cities and said it was seeking a 30-day suspension of oil sanctions, during which its frozen assets could be released.
It did not mention any Iranian proposals related to nuclear issues.
Baghaei said Iran preferred to concentrate on these priorities, “rather than talking about issues that have previously led to war at least twice”, an apparent reference to nuclear talks. Israel and the US attacked Iran in June last year and February while nuclear negotiations were under way.
One Iranian diplomat, however, said Tehran suggested that negotiations over the country’s nuclear programme could begin after a 30-day “confidence-building” period, which is similar to a proposal from Pakistan.
The Trump administration has been demanding that Iran agree to a 20-year moratorium on its nuclear enrichment programme, to transfer its stockpile of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels out of the country, and to dismantle its three main nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.
Iran insists it has a right to enrich uranium as a signatory to the international treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and publicly said it would not allow its stockpile of enriched uranium to leave the Islamic republic.
“Iran’s priorities in the negotiations signal they are not only confident, but they are determined to extract the best possible deal for them,” said Sanam Vakil at Chatham House.
Trump’s latest comments came one day after CBS News aired an interview with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who said the conflict with Iran was “not over”.
“There is still nuclear material, enriched uranium, that has to be taken out of Iran,” Netanyahu said. “There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce.”
Trump will travel to China on Tuesday, where he is expected to push president Xi Jinping to curb the country’s support for Iran. Trump is set to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday.
China is Tehran’s largest oil buyer and has sold military technology that Iran has deployed during the war.
The US state department on Friday imposed sanctions on three Chinese satellite companies for providing imagery and other services to Iran that helped it conduct military strikes against American forces in the region. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026 (Additional reporting: Lauren Fedor in Washington and Humza Jilani in Islamabad)
