Pakistani mediators in the negotiations between the United States (US) and Iran expect to receive a revised Iranian proposal to end the war in the coming days, after US President Donald Trump indicated he would not accept an earlier version, sources close to the mediation process told CNN.
US President Donald Trump has sharply criticized German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying he "doesn't know what he's talking about."
In a post on the social network Truth Social, Donald Trump wrote that Merck "thinks it's okay for Iran to have nuclear weapons."
"He doesn't know what he's talking about! If Iran had nuclear weapons, the whole world would be held hostage. I'm doing something with Iran now that other countries or presidents should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so badly, both economically and in general! Yesterday, in an unusually frank manner, Merz said that he doesn't see what a 'strategic exit' from the war would look like for the United States and that the United States is experiencing 'humiliation' from the Iranian leadership, while negotiations between the two sides are at a standstill," Trump said.
Speaking to students in Marsberg, Merc said that the Americans clearly have no strategy.
"The problem with these kinds of conflicts is always that you have to not only get into them, but also get out. We saw that painfully in Afghanistan over 20 years. We saw it in Iraq as well. So this whole situation is, as I said, reckless to say the least," said Merc.
He also suggested that Trump's negotiating team is being outplayed by the other side.
"The Iranians are apparently very skilled at negotiating, or rather at not negotiating — they let the Americans come to Islamabad and then leave without any results. An entire country is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by the so-called Revolutionary Guards. So I hope this will end as soon as possible," he said at the time.
Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level in his current term, as Americans increasingly express dissatisfaction with his handling of the cost of living and his deeply unpopular war with Iran, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows.
An Iranian military spokesman said that for Iran, "the situation remains one of war and there is continuous monitoring... surveillance."
"If the enemy takes new action, it will face new means, methods and spaces of action," the Iranian news agency Fars, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, quoted a spokesman as saying.
An Israeli attack on Lebanese soldiers and rescuers during a rescue operation in the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon wounded two Lebanese soldiers, the Lebanese army said on Tuesday.
Separately, the country's health ministry said at least 2.534 people have been killed and 7.863 wounded in Israeli attacks since March 2, the Guardian reports.
Iran's permanent mission to the UN called today for a "sustainable and definitive cessation of aggression against Iran."
"Any disruption to maritime traffic in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, as well as its consequences, are the responsibility of the United States, whose illegal actions endanger international navigation," the Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN said on the social network X.
"Lasting stability and security in the Persian Gulf and the entire region can only be ensured by a permanent and definitive cessation of aggression against Iran," the statement said.
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Saudi Arabia hosted leaders and officials from across the Gulf on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing crisis in the region caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran.
According to the Guardian, the talks in the coastal city of Jeddah come as the White House considers Iran's latest proposal to end the two-month standoff and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
About 20 percent of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passed through this key waterway before the war, before the conflict largely halted maritime traffic.
Leaders and officials from the Gulf region were welcomed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman upon their arrival in Jeddah, according to photos published by Saudi state media.
Iranian Defense Ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said Tuesday that Washington "must give up its illegal and irrational demands."
"The United States of America is no longer in a position to impose its policies on independent states," he said, according to state television.
US President Donald Trump claims in a new post on the Truth Social network that Iran "just informed" Washington that it is in a "state of collapse."
Trump also said Iran wants the US to open the Strait of Hormuz "as soon as possible" as they try to "resolve" their "leadership situation," which he believes is possible.
The Guardian writes that it has not been able to confirm these claims. Iran has not yet commented on the matter.
Israel's foreign minister said Israel is not seeking to seize territory in Lebanon, while its military continues operations in the south against Iran-backed Hezbollah, despite a ceasefire.
"Israel has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. Our presence in the areas along our northern border has one purpose: to protect our citizens," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said at a joint press conference with his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric, the Guardian reports.
US President Donald Trump is unhappy with Iran's latest proposal to resolve the two-month-old war, a US official said, dampening hopes of ending the conflict that has disrupted energy supplies, fuelled inflation and claimed thousands of lives.
Iran's latest proposal calls for the discussion of Iran's nuclear program to be put aside until the war, which was halted after a ceasefire announced earlier this month, ends and disputes over maritime traffic from the Gulf are resolved.
Trump is unhappy with the Iranian proposal because he wants nuclear issues addressed from the start, said a U.S. official familiar with the president's meeting with advisers on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said the US had "made its red lines clear" as it sought to end the war it started with Israel in February.
A previous 2015 deal between Iran and several other countries, including the United States, significantly limited Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran has long insisted was for peaceful, civilian purposes. But that deal fell apart when Trump unilaterally withdrew from it during his first term.
Hopes for a renewed peace effort were dampened after the US president cancelled a visit to Pakistan, planned for last weekend, by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi traveled to and from Islamabad twice over the weekend. He also visited Oman and on Monday traveled to Russia, where he met with President Vladimir Putin and received words of support from his longtime ally.
Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Reza Talaei-Nik said today that Tehran is ready to share its military defense capabilities and experience gained from the "American defeat" with "independent" countries, including members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The bloc includes Iran, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Central Asian states.
Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Reza Talaei-Nik said, according to state media, that Iran is ready to share its defense military capabilities with "independent states, especially members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)."
The ten members of the SCO are Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran's deputy defense minister recently held talks with Russian and Belarusian military officials, after which both countries reaffirmed their commitment to continuing cooperation with Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he welcomed Russia's support for diplomacy and praised the strength of relations between the two countries, after a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, saying recent events had demonstrated the depth of their strategic partnership.
Russia has offered to mediate in an attempt to help calm the situation in the Middle East following US and Israeli attacks on Iran, which Moscow has strongly condemned.
Russia has also repeatedly offered to store Iranian enriched uranium as a way to reduce tensions, but the United States has rejected the proposal.
The United States and Iran clashed at the United Nations over Iran's nuclear program and its selection as one of the vice-chairs at the monthly review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The 11th Review Conference of the Non-Aligned Treaty, which entered into force in 1970, opened on Monday at UN headquarters in New York. Various groups nominated 34 vice-chairs for the conference, and the chairman, Vietnamese Ambassador to the UN Do Hung Viet, said Iran had been chosen by "a group of non-aligned and other states," Reuters reported.
Christopher Yew, assistant secretary at the US Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation, told the conference that Iran's choice was "an insult to the NPT".
He stated that it was "undisputed that Iran has long shown contempt for the non-proliferation obligations of the NPT" and that it had refused to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog to clarify issues related to its program.
He called Iran's selection "more than embarrassing and a blow to the credibility of this conference."
Reza Najafi, Tehran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), dismissed the US claims as "baseless and politically motivated".
"It is indefensible that the United States, as the only state that has ever used nuclear weapons and which continues to expand and modernize its nuclear arsenal... is trying to position itself as an arbiter of compliance," he told the meeting.
The nuclear issue has been at the heart of the two-month war between Iran, the United States and Israel, with US President Donald Trump reiterating on Sunday that Iran must never have nuclear weapons.
Iran has long demanded that Washington recognize its right to enrich uranium, which Tehran claims is for peaceful purposes only, while Western powers believe it could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Iran insists it is not seeking nuclear weapons. However, the IAEA and the US intelligence community have separately assessed that Tehran had a nuclear weapons development program that it suspended in 2003.
On Monday, Iranian sources revealed Tehran's latest proposal to end the conflict, which envisages postponing discussions on the nuclear program until the war is over and disputes over maritime traffic in the Persian Gulf are resolved.
Trump and his top security advisers met on Monday to discuss the conflict, and White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt told reporters that "the president's red lines on Iran have been made very, very clear, not only to the American public, but to them as well."
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