The specific terms of Washington’s nuclear proposal to Iran have surfaced for the first time, with a Pakistani diplomatic source quoted by Al Jazeera Arabic saying the draft asks Tehran to halt uranium enrichment for at least 12 years and surrender its estimated 440kg stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent.
The US proposal, sent earlier this week, also requires Iran to abandon any effort to develop a nuclear weapon, according to the Pakistani account carried by Newswire. In exchange, Washington has offered a gradual lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and an end to its naval blockade of Iranian ports — the trio of measures Tehran has demanded as preconditions for any settlement.
Pakistan, which has emerged as the principal back-channel since the war began, conveyed Iran’s reply to Washington on Sunday. Iran’s formal response was delivered to a Pakistani mediator the same day, IRNA confirmed without disclosing details. Islamabad is urging Tehran to seek a “middle ground” in the talks, while regional powers Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and China remain engaged in mediation. The diplomatic push comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s expected visit to China, a major importer of Iranian crude.
Despite continued clashes between US and Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, neither side has declared the April 8 ceasefire collapsed. Iran has closed Hormuz to foreign shipping and seized several foreign-flagged vessels in response to the US naval blockade imposed on April 13. Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said a lasting ceasefire is only possible if the blockade is lifted.
The prolonged closure has lifted global fuel prices and tightened Sri Lanka’s external accounts, with the Central Bank turning a net dollar seller in April for the first time in 22 months and Saudi Aramco recently disclosing the loss of more than a billion barrels of crude exports through Hormuz.
Source: Newswire (Al Jazeera Arabic).
