An Iranian spokesman said that his administration wants “guarantees that we won’t be attacked again.”
By Catholics for Catholics
Despite taking a severe pummeling for six weeks, Iran showed no signs on Monday of accepting a ceasefire proposal to end a war with the U.S. and Israel, as President Donald Trump’s ultimatum lurked, in an effort to circumvent a main intensification in attacks against power plants and bridges.
Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, was blunt when told The Associated Press, “We won’t merely accept a ceasefire. We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked again.”
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Tehran conveyed its response through Pakistan, a key mediator, according to Newsmax.
A key issue for the Trump time limit revolves around Tehran opening the Strait of Hormuz, a passage through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped. Pour said Iranian and Omani officials were working on a mechanism for administrating the shipping chokepoint.
So far Iran’s control of the strait has triggered oil prices to surge, causing economic chaos worldwide.
So far President Trump has given several ultimatums to Iran. The report of Iran’s refusal came as he was making declarations to journalists at an annual Easter event at the White House, ahead of more extensive comments on Monday afternoon.
Still, it was not known if Trump knew about the news. He referred to Iran as a “strong” enemy but “not so strong like they were about a month ago.”
When reporters asked him if Tuesday at 8 p.m. Washington time was his final deadline, Trump replied, “Yeah.”
To date, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war started, but the government has not updated the toll for days.
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