Pakistan has received Iran’s response to a United States proposal aimed at ending the ongoing regional conflict and forwarded the response to Washington, a Pakistani government official involved in the negotiations said.
The official, quoted by Reuters on Sunday, May 10, did not disclose details of Tehran’s response or the content of the US proposal.
The development came after Iranian state media reported that Tehran had formally responded to the United States’ proposal to open peace talks aimed at ending the war.
Iran says the talks should focus on ending hostilities
According to Iran’s state news agency IRNA, Tehran’s proposal envisages the current phase of negotiations aimed exclusively at stopping military fighting in the region.
A source familiar with the discussions told IRNA that the immediate goal is to stabilize the ceasefire before broader issues are addressed.
Sources on both sides told Reuters the latest diplomatic effort was aimed at reaching an interim memorandum of understanding that would suspend the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping.
The proposed framework would also create space for negotiations on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
The US proposal reportedly contained a 14-point framework
The latest exchange follows a US proposal presented last week, reportedly consisting of a one-page, 14-point memorandum of understanding.
According to reports, the document proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz while creating a blueprint for future negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear activities.
The proposal was itself a response to an earlier Iranian initiative calling for the lifting of parallel US and Iranian blockades in the Persian Gulf region.
Iran also demanded relief from sanctions and the release of frozen Iranian financial assets as part of any future deal.
The truce is showing signs of strain
Despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire, which came into effect on April 8, is showing signs of increasing pressure.
On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reported drone incursions into their airspace, while a drone strike reportedly caused a small fire on board a vessel near the coast of Qatar.
Another drone strike targeted a camp linked to an Iranian Kurdish rebel group near Erbil in northeastern Iraq.
Tensions in the Persian Gulf remain high as both Washington and Tehran continue their push to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy corridor.
Trump’s “Project Freedom” has faced setbacks
On May 4, US President Donald Trump launched an operation called “Project Freedom” to escort trapped merchant ships out of the Persian Gulf.
However, the mission was aborted after 36 hours and a successful flyby of only two American-flagged vessels.
According to the report, Saudi Arabia refused to allow US forces to use its airspace and military bases during the operation.
Iran, which closed the Strait of Hormuz after the initial US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has since insisted that all vessels passing through the waterway coordinate with Iranian authorities and pay a reported $2 million transit fee.
US warns Iran against disrupting global economy
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz accused Iran of threatening the global economy with its actions in the Persian Gulf.
“The world should not tolerate an Iranian regime that is trying to strangle the entire world economy,” Waltz said during an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“It cannot just start indiscriminately dropping sea mines into the ocean and attacking shipping,” he added.
Waltz also claimed that Iran discussed targeting undersea communications cables used for financial and digital infrastructure.
“We’ll see what the Iranians come back with overnight in terms of their response to our very clear red line,” he said. “President Trump has made it clear that they will never have a nuclear weapon and they cannot hold the world’s economies hostage.”
Iran plans defiance amid diplomacy
Despite participating in diplomatic talks, Iranian leaders have indicated that Tehran will not negotiate from a position of weakness.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “We will never bow our heads to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat.”
“Rather, the goal is to uphold the rights of the Iranian people and defend national interests with decisive force,” he added.
Separately, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ebrahim Rezaei dismissed the reported US proposal as a “wish list”.
“The Americans will not gain by a failed war what they could not gain by face-to-face negotiations,” he wrote on X.
“Iran has its finger on the trigger and is ready,” he warned.
