Iran Responds to U.S. Proposal for Ending War, Trump Says Terms Unacceptable

*Saudi Aramco’s Q1 profit jumps 25% to $32.5bn amid Strait of Hormuz blockade 

*Tehran says negotiations not sign of surrender

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Iran has sent its response to the latest U.S. ceasefire proposal via Pakistani mediators and wants negotiations to focus on permanently ending the war, but President Donald Trump quickly rejected it as “totally unacceptable!” with no details.
Iran seeks to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and to ensure the security of shipping, state TV said. Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear programme.

Trump earlier on social media accused Tehran of “playing games” with the United States for nearly 50 years, adding: “They will be laughing no longer!”, AP reported.
Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC earlier.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, “issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.

It followed a U.S. proposal to end fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Tehran’s proposal included an immediate end to the war on all fronts, a halt to the U.S. naval blockade, guarantees of no further attacks on Iran and the lifting of sanctions on Iran, including a U.S. ban on Iranian oil sales.
The Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed sources saying Iran proposed diluting some of its highly enriched uranium and transferring the remainder to a third country.

Pakistan, which has been mediating talks over the war, forwarded the Iranian response to the U.S., a Pakistani official said.
Despite a month-old ceasefire in the conflict and after some 48 hours of relative calm, hostile drones were detected over several Gulf countries on Sunday, underlining the threat still facing the region.
With Trump due to visit China this week, there has been mounting pressure to draw a line under the war, which has ignited a global energy crisis and poses a growing threat to the world economy.

Tehran has largely blocked non-Iranian shipping through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, which before the war carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and has emerged as one of the central pressure points in the war.
Addressing whether combat operations against Iran were over, Trump said in remarks aired on Sunday: “They are defeated, but that doesn’t mean they’re done.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war was not over because there was “more work to be done” to remove enriched uranium from Iran, dismantle enrichment sites and address Iran’s proxies and ballistic missile capabilities.
The best way to remove the enriched uranium would be through diplomacy, Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” without ruling out removing it by force.

Saudi Aramco’s Profit Jumps 25% in Q1

Also, Saudi Aramco reported a 25 per cent jump in first-quarter profit yesterday, showing its ‌resilience as U.S.-Iran war tensions curtail Strait of Hormuz shipping, with the state oil giant’s East-West crude pipeline running at full capacity to mitigate the impact to supplies.
The world’s top oil exporter earned a net profit of $32.5 billion in the three months ended March 31, beating an LSEG consensus estimate of $30.95 billion.

Total revenue surged nearly 7 per cent from a year earlier to $115.49 billion due to higher prices and volumes sold of both crude oil and refined and chemical products.
Iran’s blockade of shipping through the crucial Hormuz waterway amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict which has curtailed energy supply and sent prices surging, prompted Aramco to ramp up crude flows from its east coast to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, Reuters reported.
“Our East-West Pipeline, which reached its maximum capacity of 7.0 million barrels of oil per day, has proven itself to be a critical supply artery, helping to mitigate the impact of a global energy shock,” Aramco Chief Executive, Amin Nasser said, adding that “reliable energy supply is critical.”

The pipeline can supply about 2 million bpd to refineries on Saudi Arabia’s west coast, leaving 5 million bpd for export.
During the war, Saudi Arabia cut output by 2 million bpd after Iran ‌blockaded Hormuz, a waterway that carried a fifth of world oil supply before the war. The line mainly carries Arab Light and some Arab Extra Light, with heavier grades curtailed.
Aramco’s adjusted quarterly net profit was $33.6 billion, beating a company-provided median analyst estimate of $31.16 billion. The figure strips out $1.06 billion in non-operational accounting items.

Besides, capital expenditure fell slightly to $12.1 billion in the quarter from $12.5 billion a year prior, and was sharply down from $13.4 billion in the fourth quarter. Aramco had outlined $50-55 billion in capital expenditure this year.
Aramco also declared a first-quarter base dividend of $21.9 billion, up 3.5 per cent year-on-year and payable in the second quarter, in line with expected total dividends of $87.6 billion for 2026. It had also introduced a performance-linked dividend in 2023 linked to free cash flow.

The Saudi state relies heavily on Aramco’s payouts to fund domestic spending and cover budget gaps. The government directly owns almost 81.5 per cent of the company, ⁠while the Public Investment Fund (PIF) holds 16 per cent.

In the same vein, free cash flow slipped to $18.6 billion from $19.2 billion a year earlier, impacted by a $15.8 billion rise in working capital. Aramco’s gearing – measuring its debt compared to equity – rose to 4.8 per cent at March 31 from 3.8 per cent at the end of 2025.

Trump: Iran Playing Games with US, Entire Globe

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump issued a statement on Truth Social Sunday afternoon in which he said Iran “has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years.” The president did not address an Iranian response or whether he or his administration officials were reviewing anything but he warned, “They will be laughing no longer!”

Trump has repeatedly insisted the ceasefire remains intact despite the continued exchange of hostilities and mirroring naval blockades. The U.S. launched strikes against Iran last week in retaliation for an attack on U.S. Navy destroyers, with Trump initially dismissing it as just “a love tap.”

Trump, in a wide-ranging interview that aired Sunday on “Full Measure,” said the U.S. has hit “probably 70 percent” of its targets and that Iran has “no leaders” and “no military.” But he added that combat operations have not ended.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an X post Sunday, “We will never bow our heads before the enemy, and if talk of dialogue or negotiation arises, it does not mean surrender or retreat.”

Besides, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, warned that “any deployment and stationing of extra-regional destroyers around the Strait of Hormuz, under the pretext of ‘protecting shipping,’ is nothing but an escalation of the crisis, the militarisation of a vital waterway, and an attempt to cover up the true root of insecurity in the region.”

The war continues to jolt the global economy, and Americans are feeling the pain at the pump.

The average petrol price per gallon is $4.52 and climbing, according to motorist group AAA. Last year’s average was $3.14.

The Strait of Hormuz, the key trade route through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil flows – remains closed by Iran, despite international calls to allow for the safe passage of cargo ships.