President says plans exist to 'blast the hell out of them'

Iran submits new proposal to end war; Trump says he’s ‘not satisfied’

Offer sent via Pakistan said to envision US unwinding blockade at start of Hormuz talks rather than as precondition; suggests nuclear negotiations in exchange for sanctions relief

US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was dissatisfied with a new ceasefire offer from Tehran and confirmed he had been briefed on ways to “blast the hell out of them” if no deal were reached.

“They want to make a deal, but I’m not satisfied with it,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

“They’ve made strides, but I’m not sure if they ever get there,” he said.

In response to a separate question, Trump said: “They’re asking for things that I can’t agree to.”

He also claimed the talks were complicated because Iran’s leaders were “not getting along with each other, and it puts us in a bad position.”

Confirming that US Central Command chief Adm. Bradley Cooper had briefed him this week about military options in Iran, Trump said: “Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever, or do we want to try and make a deal — those are the options.”

Trump said that he would prefer “on a human basis” not to bomb Iran, but that he also doesn’t want the country to obtain nuclear weapons.

Iranian state media and a Pakistani official had said earlier Friday that Tehran had submitted its latest proposal, without elaborating.

The official, who is involved in Pakistani mediation over the war, said Islamabad had received the proposal late on Thursday and forwarded it to Washington.

Talks have faltered over Iran’s nuclear program and control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is under competing Iranian and US naval blockades.

The Wall Street Journal on Friday cited people familiar with the details as saying Iran’s new proposal drops its demand that the US blockade end before talks take place on lifting the Iranian blockade. Iran’s new proposal reportedly offers that Hormuz talks instead commence simultaneously with the US unwinding its blockade and guaranteeing no further attacks.

The new proposal also offers to discuss Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for US sanctions relief, the people cited by the Journal said, adding that Iran has indicated it would be willing to hold talks with the US in Pakistan if Washington is open to the new offer.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused unprecedented disruption to energy markets, choking off 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies and causing a record rally in oil prices. Global oil prices reached a four-year high on Thursday following reports that Trump was to be briefed on new strike plans.

On Friday, the US warned shippers that they risked sanctions if they paid tolls to Iran to pass through the Strait. An EU official told AFP that the bloc’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas had spoken with Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi by phone Friday about diplomatic efforts to reopen the strait.

Underlining the concerns of Gulf states, which rely on the strait to export oil, UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said that the “collective international will and provisions of international law” were the primary guarantors of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

“And, of course, no unilateral Iranian arrangements can be trusted or relied upon following its treacherous aggression against all its neighbors,” Gargash wrote on X.

Trump official claims truce reset clock on Congressional authorization

Iran launched missile and drone strikes across the region in response to the bombing campaign that the US and Israel launched on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

Trump announced a two-week ceasefire on April 8, and then extended it indefinitely hours before it was set to end last week.

A senior Trump administration official said Friday that the ceasefire “terminated” hostilities between the US and Iran for the purposes of the 1973 US War Powers Act.

The act requires US presidents who launch hostilities without congressional approval to either end them within 60 days or seek an extension from lawmakers.

Trump formally faced that deadline for the Iran war on Friday, but his administration is arguing that the ceasefire has reset the clock.

Meanwhile, Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei insisted in a video statement Friday that the US achieved “nothing” during the war, and that Tehran was open to negotiations but would not “back down” in them.

“The Islamic Republic has never shied away from negotiations… but we certainly do not accept imposition,” said Ejei in the statement, which was carried by the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.

“We do not welcome war in any way; we do not want war, we do not want its continuation,” but Iran is “absolutely not willing to abandon our principles and values in the face of this malicious enemy to avoid war or prevent its continuation,” Ejei said.

Two senior Iranian sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Iran has activated air defenses and plans a wide response if attacked, having assessed that there will be a short, intensive US strike, possibly followed by an Israeli attack.

Unnamed US officials and two other informed sources were also cited by NBC on Friday as saying Iran has been preparing for the ceasefire’s potential collapse by digging out missiles and other munitions from both underground storage units and under rubble.

Washington has assessed that Tehran wants to be ready to quickly renew drone and missile attacks if the war resumes, the report said, adding that Trump would decide how to proceed in the next few days.

Meanwhile, an explosion of leftover bombs from strikes during the war against Iran killed 14 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian media reported on Friday.

A report by the Nournews website, believed to be close to Iran’s security, said the explosion happened near the northern city of Zanjan, which is northwest of Tehran.

It was the largest number of IRGC members reported to be killed since the ceasefire began on April 7. The report said the ammunition included cluster bombs and air mines dropped during the fighting.