Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, confirmed that the United States had given Iran a 15-point offer to end the conflict on Thursday.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Witkoff said that the terms of the “action list” had been conveyed to Iran by Pakistan and been “well-received.”
“This has resulted in strong and positive messaging in talks,” Witkoff said. “Iran is looking for an off-ramp.”Witkoff said that the content of the 15-point plan was confidential and that the Trump administration would not “negotiate through the news media,” but the New York Times reported its existence on Tuesday.
Iran’s foreign minister rejected the proposal on Thursday and told Iranian state media that “we do not plan on any negotiations,” the Associated Press reported.
Trump said that Iran was “begging” to make a deal to end the conflict.
“The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to s***,” Trump said.
The president also revealed the nature of the “present” that he said on Tuesday that Iran had gifted to the United States.
Iran had allowed 10 Pakistani-flagged oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Thousands of tankers remain effectively blocked from traversing the strait amid the threat of Iranian attacks.
Trump downplayed the ability of Iran to make good on that threat, saying that its minelaying ships had been destroyed.
“We don’t know that they’ve dropped any mines, frankly, because we blew up all the mine droppers, right?” the president said. “They’re gonna have to take them out on a rowboat or something.”
As the end of the fourth week of the war approaches, Trump said that his four-to-six week timeline for operations remains in place.
“26 days in, we’re extremely, really a lot ahead of schedule,” Trump said. “The Iranian regime is now admitting to itself that they have been decisively defeated.”
Trump suggested that he might once again extend a deadline for negotiations to proceed, after he initially said on Saturday that Iran had 48 hours before he would begin strikes on the country’s power plants. He then extended that deadline till Friday.
“It’s a day,” Trump said. “In ‘Trump time,’ a day, you know what it is? That’s an eternity.”
