A senior Iranian military officer said on Saturday that renewed fighting with the US was "likely", hours after PresidentDonald Trumpsaid he was not satisfied with an Iranian negotiating proposal.
Irandelivered the new draft to mediatorPakistanon Thursday evening, state media reported, without detailing its contents.
Read moreIran delivers new proposal for US talks, Trump says not satisfied with offer
The war, launched by the United States andIsraelin late February, has been on hold since April 8, with one failed round ofpeace talkshaving taken place in Pakistan.
"At this moment I'm not satisfied with what they're offering," Trump told reporters, blaming the stalledtalkson "tremendous discord" within Iran's leadership.
He added that the decision he faced was between whether to "just blast the hell out of them" or to "try and make a deal", saying he would rather not take the first option.
On Saturday morning, Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in the Iranian military's central command, said "a renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely", in quotes published by Iran's Fars news agency.
"Evidence has shown that the United States is not committed to any promises or agreements," he added.
Deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran that "the ball is in the United States' court to choose the path ofdiplomacyor the continuation of a confrontational approach".
Iran, he said, was "prepared for both paths".
'Like pirates'
Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Friday that his country had "never shied away from negotiations", but would not accept the "imposition" of peace terms.
Supporters of new Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojataba Khamenei stage a rally
TheWhite Househas declined to provide details on the latest Iranian proposal, but news site Axios reported that US envoySteve Witkoffhad submitted amendments to a previous one putting Tehran's nuclear programme back on the negotiating table.
Iran's mission to theUNpointed to the United States' massive nuclear arsenal, accusing it on Saturday of "hypocritical behaviour" towards Iran's own atomic programme.
It went on to insist there was no legal "restriction on the level ofuraniumenrichment, so long as it is conducted under theIAEA's supervision, as was the case with Iran".
News of the new Iranian proposal had briefly pushed oil prices down nearly five percent, though they remain about 50 percent above pre-war levels amid the ongoing closure of theStrait of Hormuz.
Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the strait since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.
Speaking at a rally on Friday, Trump said "we're like pirates" as he described an earlier helicopter raid on an oil tanker under the blockade.
The vice speaker of Iran's parliament, meanwhile, said Iran would not "relinquish our rights in the Strait of Hormuz, and the movement of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz will not be the same as before".
Washington has been gripped by a debate over the president's war powers
Ali Nikzad added that under legislation before parliament for managing the waterway, 30 percent of tolls collected would go towards military infrastructure, with the rest earmarked for "economic development".
"Managing the Strait of Hormuz is more important than acquiringnuclear weapons," he said.
Despite the ceasefire in the Gulf, fighting has continued inLebanon, where Israel has carried out deadly strikes despite a separatetrucewith the Iran-backed armed groupHezbollah.
Lebanese state media reported a fresh series of strikes in the south on Saturday, while Hezbollah claimed new attacks targeting Israeli troops.
'Terminated'
In Washington, lawmakers were wrestling with a legal dispute over whether Trump had breached a deadline to seek congressional approval for the war.
Administration officials argue that the ceasefire pauses a 60-day limit, after which congressional authorisation would be required -- a claim disputed by opposition Democrats.
"There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026," Trump said in letters to congressional leaders, adding that the hostilities "have terminated".
Iran's economy has been battered by the war
In Iran, the war's economic toll is deepening, with oil exports crimped and inflation surging past 50 percent.
"Everyone is trying to endure it, but... they are falling apart," 40-year-old Amir, a Tehran resident, told an AFP reporter based outside the country.
"We still have not seen much of the economic effects because everyone had a bit of savings. They had some gold and dollars for a rainy day. When they run out, things will change."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
