The US has drafted a 15-point plan intended to help bring the war with Iran to a close, according to people familiar with the matter, highlighting the intensifying urgency within the Trump administration to resolve the conflict as the economic toll mounts.
President Donald Trump has been pushing talks with Iran in a bid to halt the fighting. Yet those efforts have been clouded by uncertainty over the structure of negotiations, the Iranian participants and how any deal would be structured.
The plan was delivered to Iran via Pakistan, said one of the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private matters. The details of the 15-point proposal remain unclear, though Trump has publicly mused that any agreement would have to include a prohibition on Iran ever obtaining a nuclear weapon or enriching radioactive material for civilian purposes.
The New York Times first reported on the existence of the document. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday night.
After threatening attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure, Trump said Monday he was delaying them for five days to allow time for negotiations, citing “major points of agreement” with Iran.
Oil declined and equities rallied on optimism about a potential diplomatic push to resolve the nearly month-long Middle East conflict.
Brent sank as much as 7% to almost $97 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was near $88. A Bloomberg index of the dollar fell 0.1%, while bonds in Australia and New Zealand rose along with Treasuries. Equity-index futures for the S&P 500 advanced 0.5% buoyed by reports of ceasefire efforts.
Despite overtures from Washington, Iran and Israel showed no signs of letup in the conflict. It was not immediately clear if Israel, which has partnered with the US on the coordinated strikes that began Feb. 28, has signed off on the approach. Israeli officials have maintained they would continue hitting Iran even as Trump has claimed talks are underway to end the conflict.
Tehran is meanwhile signaling little willingness to compromise. On Wednesday, Iran’s armed forces added to a stream of messaging that ruled out ceasefire talks with the Trump administration.
“The level of your internal conflicts has reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves,” the statement said, according to state-run IRIB News. It added that Iran wouldn’t allow market prices for oil and energy to return to their previous levels until all threats against the country are fully removed.
Special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been involved in what Trump has described as active negotiations, without explicitly specifying with whom the US is talking. Pakistan, at the same time, has offered itself as a mediator.
But the Trump administration has also ordered thousands of Army and Marine troops to the Middle East as it weighs its options to ease Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping corridor for oil and gas.
Trump in his first term withdrew the US from an international accord on Iran’s nuclear capabilities that was forged under President Barack Obama. Yet the talks now set up the prospect of another prolonged back and forth that could end in a similar deal.
The president boasted Tuesday that the US was in “a good bargaining position,” following weeks of strikes that he says have taken out Iranian missiles, launchers and ships.
Yet, in the US and around the world, the conflict has led to surging prices for oil, gas and other goods, as commercial tankers avoid crossing the Strait of Hormuz, and as attacks by Iran damage refining and gas processing infrastructure in the region. Only a few tankers have passed through the strait since the conflict began.
US gasoline prices have been climbing, according to the American Automobile Association. Higher costs for fertilizer and energy threaten to ripple across the economy too, raising the price of other goods before November midterm elections expected to hinge on voters’ view of affordability.
Trump administration officials have stressed that higher costs will be temporary.
Beyond the economic concerns, protracted fighting risks angering US allies and inflaming geopolitical tensions. Some nations cautioned that the war was quickly becoming a disaster before Trump ordered a five-day reprieve on threats to bomb Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he emphasized the importance of opening the Strait of Hormuz in a call with Trump. And in a phone call Tuesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi urged him to engage in negotiations as soon as possible.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has urged Trump to continue the war, casting it as an opportunity to remake the region, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing people briefed by US officials on the conversations.
