Although US President Donald Trump has positively assessed the prospects for a long-term peace deal with Iran, major differences remain between the two sides’ views on the deal.
Trump described Iran’s 10-point plan as “a viable basis for negotiation,” but questions remain about what it contains and whether it crosses US red lines.
Iranian media reported that the plan would allow Iran to maintain its ability to enrich uranium, protect militant groups allied with Tehran in the Middle East, including Hezbollah and Hamas, and secure the withdrawal of US troops from bases in the region.
However, US Vice President JD Vance denies that this is the plan that Trump described as working.
Whatever Iran’s latest proposal helped pave the way for an end to the Pakistan-led war, the 15-point outline the US put forward through mediators last month calls on Tehran to end its uranium enrichment program and stop supporting its military, while making no arrangements for a US troop withdrawal, according to a list of media reports.
Other apparent differences between the two sides include whether Israel’s attack on Lebanon is prevented by the ceasefire and whether Iran has the right to charge ships if they pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire in the Strait of Hormuz and to work to end the attack once and for all. The deal came hours after US President Donald Trump threatened to end ‘all civilization.’
Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a think tank in Washington, DC, says she is not very optimistic about the prospects for a lasting peace deal.
“These two programs are contradictory,” Kavanagh told the CBC News Network on Wednesday. “These programs are in no way the same, and I find it difficult to see how they will fit together.”
Leavitt calls Iran proposal ‘reasonable’
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt says the latest proposal from Iran that paved the way for an end to the war was “reasonable and completely different” from the 10-point plan that was on the table.
“The idea that President Trump would ever accept Iran’s wish list as a deal is absurd,” Leavitt said at a press conference Wednesday.
“What Iran says publicly or feeds you all in the press is very different from what they talk to the United States, the president and his team in private.”
Here is a look at the issues that may be the sticking points in reaching an agreement to end the war.
Iran’s nuclear program
Since US claims that Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons were at the heart of Trump’s stated reason for launching the war, it is not surprising that finding common ground on this issue will be a challenge.
Tehran’s proposal calls for the US to accept Iran’s right to enrich uranium.
“There will be no enrichment of Uranium,” Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Wednesday.
A different question remains as to what will happen to the 440 kilograms of uranium that is The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is already enriched to a high level and is believed to be buried beneath the nuclear sites that the US detonated last June.
Trump’s memo said the US would work with Iran to “excavate and remove” its highly enriched uranium and that the material had been monitored by satellite and “nothing has been touched” since the bomb went off.
Vance told reporters in Budapest on Wednesday before boarding a flight from the Hungarian capital that Iran needs to remember that it can get relief from sanctions through negotiations.
“That won’t happen unless the Iranians make a firm commitment to stop anything close to developing a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
The Strait of Hormuz
The end of Tehran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was a red line after Trump’s threat to blow up Iranian energy plants and bridges.
The ceasefire is contingent on what Trump called the “full, speedy and safe opening” of the strait to commercial shipping.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said safe passage during the ceasefire will only be possible “in cooperation with the Iranian military.” The government has also proposed raising $2 million for each ship, according to a New York Times report.
Iranian media say the country has closed the Strait of Hormuz again, this time because of Israel’s attack on Lebanon. The US and Israel say Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire – while the White House says the Strait remains open.
Richard Nephew, the former deputy US special envoy to Iran, says the Islamic State does not appear to be willing to make major changes.
“There is no indication from the Iranian people that they are ready to accept a return to the status quo regarding the Strait of Hormuz,” the nephew told the CBC News Network.
The nephew says that Iran’s proposed strait plan may be a mistake, but he says it is consistent with the regime’s view that “no one will sell oil if Iran cannot sell oil freely.”
Israel vs. Hezbollah in Lebanon
The first day of Iran’s end was the deadliest day of Israel’s parallel war with the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.
The Lebanon Civil Defense says 254 people died and more than 1,100 were injured. Israeli strikes across the country, including strikes on busy commercial and residential areas in central Beirut, Reuters reports.
Israel’s attack on Hezbollah suggests how difficult it will be for the US and Tehran to reach an agreement, as Iran demands that allied groups be left alone and the US calls on the Islamic State to end its support.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel supports the US to stop fighting Iran but the agreement does not include fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Although Iran maintains that the ceasefire must apply to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Trump administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say it does not.
Iran said it closed the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday because of Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
Vance says Iran misunderstood the goal of the ceasefire.
“I think the Iranians thought the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it didn’t. We didn’t make that promise,” Vance said.
