US President Donald Trump has declared the Iranian regime's response to the latest American proposal to end hostilities as “totally unacceptable.” In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump expressed his displeasure, stating, “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘representatives.’ I don’t like it — totally unacceptable!”
Iran's Proposal Conditions
Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Tehran had submitted its response to Washington’s plan through Pakistani mediators. According to the regime outlet, Iran’s response aims to end “the war in the region.” However, separate reports in Arab media indicate that Tehran’s proposal conditions any future understandings with Washington on reaching a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon and lifting restrictions on Iranian oil exports.
Trump's Accusations
In another post on Sunday, Trump accused the Iranian regime of “playing games with the United States” and warned that the mullahs would be “laughing no longer.” He wrote, “For 47 years the Iranians have been ‘tapping’ us along, keeping us waiting, killing our people with their roadside bombs, destroying protests, and recently wiping out 42,000 innocent, unarmed protestors, and laughing at our now great again country.” Trump further charged that the Islamic Republic “has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the world, for 47 years (delay, delay, delay!).”
According to Trump, the regime “finally hit pay dirt” when Barack Obama became president in 2009 and pushed through the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which lifted sanctions in return for limitations on Tehran’s nuclear program. Trump criticized Obama, saying, “He was not only good to them, he was great, actually going to their side, jettisoning Israel, and all other allies, and giving Iran a major and very powerful new lease on life. Hundreds of billions of dollars, and 1.7 billion dollars in green cash, flown into Tehran, was handed to them on a silver platter.” Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018.
Warning of Expanded Military Action
On Saturday, Trump warned that “Operation Project Freedom” in the Strait of Hormuz could be resumed and expanded if Tehran does not agree to a deal to end the war. “We’ll go a different route if everything doesn’t get signed up, buttoned up,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We may go back to ‘Project Freedom’ if things don’t happen, but it’ll be ‘Project Freedom Plus,’ meaning ‘Project Freedom’ plus other things.”
Trump launched “Operation Project Freedom” on May 4 to safeguard merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz following a series of Iranian attacks in the vital waterway. Tehran has largely blocked the strait since the start of the war, triggering a spike in global fuel prices and putting pressure on financial markets.
The president vowed that the mullahs “had never seen money like this, and never will again,” referring to the funds received under the JCPOA.
