Screengrab from video put out by Iranian state media Tasnim News of an Iranian missile with Trump's name on it, in response to the great gift from Iran Trump claimed he was being given
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp wrote a note on a missile – its ‘present’ for ‘foolish Trump’

Iran has rejected Donald Trump’s peace plan and mocked the US president for claiming a deal is close.

The move prompted the White House to warn that the president would “unleash hell” if Iran did not accept his terms.

The US delivered a 15-point peace plan to Iran demanding no nuclear enrichment, a limit on missiles and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Islamic Republic dismissed the document, delivered via a “friendly intermediary”, adding that it failed to reflect the balance of power in the conflict.

“Iran will end the war when it decides to do so, and when its own conditions are met,” one official told state television.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran denied that direct talks to end the war had started, telling the US: “You are negotiating with yourselves.”
Trump's 15-point plan to end Iran war
Trump's 15-point plan to end Iran war

Later on Wednesday, Karoline Leavitt, Mr Trump’s spokesman, insisted that dialogue between the US and Iran was still open.

But she warned: “If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily... President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before.

“President Trump does not bluff, and he is prepared to unleash hell. Iran should not miscalculate again. Their last miscalculation cost them their senior leadership, their navy, their air force and their air defence system.”
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Mr Trump has dispatched two separate naval missions with marines on board and ordered paratroopers to the Middle East in preparation for a possible ground invasion, while claiming peace talks have been “very good and productive”.

The marines are due to arrive on Friday, when Mr Trump’s latest deadline to reopen the strait passes and the stock markets close.
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Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, warned Iran: ‘President Trump does not bluff’ - Chip Somodevilla/Getty Image

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian parliamentary speaker who has been identified as a possible lead negotiator, said Iran had gathered intelligence suggesting that the US was “preparing to occupy one of the Iranian islands with support from one of the regional states”.

“Our forces are monitoring all enemy movements, and if they take any step, all the vital infrastructure of that regional state will be targeted with relentless, unceasing attacks,” he said.
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The demands in the 15-point peace plan sent to Iranian officials this week are adjudged to be harsher than those presented to Iran before the start of the war.

However, Iranian officials believe they are negotiating from a position of relative strength, having successfully closed the Strait of Hormuz, struck regional targets and survived the initial American assault.

Iran’s state TV published five Iranian counter-demands that included an end to aggression, promises that the war would not restart, reparations and a guarantee of Iranian “authority” over the Strait of Hormuz.

Under Mr Trump’s peace proposals, the US wants Iran to dismantle its three main nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow, plus approximately a dozen smaller sites.

Iran would be required to cease all uranium enrichment on its territory, hand over its stockpile of 450kg of 60 per cent enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency and commit permanently to never pursuing nuclear weapons.

The UN nuclear watchdog would receive full access and transparency inside Iran.

Tehran would abandon what the US calls its “proxy paradigm” – ceasing all funding, direction and arming of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen.

Iran’s missile programme would face limits on both range and quantity, with specific thresholds to be determined later and any future missile use would be restricted to self-defence.

The plan demands full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as a free maritime corridor.

In exchange, the US offers complete lifting of international sanctions, American assistance for Iran’s civilian nuclear programme, including electricity generation at the Bushehr plant, and removal of the UN “snapback” mechanism that allows automatic reimposition of sanctions if Iran violates terms.

The proposal includes a month-long ceasefire while the two sides negotiate implementation details.

Iran’s response rejects the American framework entirely and substitutes conditions that Iranian officials describe as minimum requirements.

Tehran demands a complete halt to “aggression and assassinations” by the US and Israel. It wants “concrete mechanisms” to ensure the war will not be reimposed on the Islamic Republic – a demand that goes beyond typical ceasefire monitoring to imply binding international guarantees preventing future American or Israeli strikes.

It also insists on “guaranteed and clearly defined payment of war damages and reparations”.

Tehran requires the war to end “across all fronts and for all resistance groups involved throughout the region” – effectively demanding American guarantees not to attack Hezbollah, the Houthis or other Iranian-aligned forces.

An Iranian official said: “Iran’s exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is and will remain Iran’s natural and legal right, and it constitutes a guarantee for the implementation of the other party’s commitments and must be recognised.”

The official said these conditions were “in addition to demands previously presented by Tehran during the second round of negotiations in Geneva” in February.

They included recognition of Iran’s right to enrich uranium domestically, complete sanctions relief and potentially other terms not yet made public.

“The end of the war will occur when Iran decides it should end, not when Trump envisions its conclusion,” one official said.
Video grab of Trump claiming Iran had given him a great present juxtaposed with a grab of the IRGC writing a message for Trump on a missile about to be fired
The IRGC replied to Mr Trump’s claim that Iran had given the US a present by dispatching a missile with his name on it - Tasnimnews

On Wednesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp wrote on a missile heading towards Israel and US bases: “This is the present that the foolish Trump said – open your arms and receive it.”

The message was a reference to claims made by Mr Trump on Tuesday night that Iran had given the US “a present”.

“I’m not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize,” he said, suggesting a positive start had been made to talks to end the war.

On Wednesday, Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned of more human and economic pain the longer the war continued.

“The conflict has broken past the limits even leaders thought imaginable,” he said. “The world is staring down the barrel of a wider war, a rising tide of human suffering and a deeper global economic shock. This has gone too far.”

The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, nearly 1,100 people in Lebanon, 16 in Israel and 13 members of the US military, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.

Germany said Mr Trump’s “misguided policies” were hitting its economy. Gen Fabien Mandon, the head of the French army, meanwhile is to host talks with other countries willing to join a mission to unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

The talks are “aimed at gathering the positions of countries wishing to play a role in this effort”, a French army official said. “The initiative is entirely separate from the US approach and remains defensive in nature.”

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