DUBAI: The United States sent a 15-point plan to Iran for a possible ceasefire, an official said, even as it began to move paratroopers to the Mideast to back up a contingent of Marines heading there Wednesday.
Iran's military scoffed at the diplomatic effort and launched more attacks on Israel and the Gulf region, including an assault that sparked a fire at Kuwait International Airport.
With growing pressure on the United States to end the war as it nears the end of its first month, Washington submitted the plan to Iran by intermediaries from Pakistan, who have offered to host renewed negotiations according to a person briefed on the contours of the proposal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.
Iran's attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil is usually shipped, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and rocked world markets over fears of a global energy crisis.
At least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent top the Mideast in the coming days, three people with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press.
The Pentagon is also in the process of deploying two Marine units that will add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region.
The moves are being framed as Trump maneuvering to give himself “max flexibility” on what he will do next, the person added.
US President Donald Trump has said that American officials are in negotiations with Iran, though hasn't said who they are in contact with.
Iran's Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands both the regular military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, suggested that there are no talks.
“Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the headquarters.
“Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way: Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you,” Zolfaghari said in the video statement aired on state television. “Not now, not ever.”
Israeli officials, who have been advocating for Trump to continue the war against Iran, were surprised by the submission of a ceasefire plan, the official said.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The Israeli military announced it had begun new wide-scale attacks early Wednesday on Iran targeting government infrastructure, and witnesses reported airstrikes in the northwestern city of Qazvin.
Missile alert sirens began early in the morning in Israel as Iran launched its own attacks, which have been a daily occurrence since Israel and the US attacked Iran on February 28 to start the war.
Iran also kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, with Saudi Arabia's Defence Ministry saying it had destroyed at least eight drones in the kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province, and missile alert sirens sounding in Bahrain.
Kuwait said it shot down multiple drones but one hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, the General Civil Aviation Authority said. Firefighters were working to contain the blaze.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, has neared USD 120 a barrel during the conflict but was trading just below USD 100 in morning trading as talks of a possible ceasefire helped calm prices. That's still up nearly 40 per cent from the start of the war.
Any talks between the US and Iran would face monumental challenges. Many of Washington's shifting objectives, particularly over Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs, remain difficult to achieve.
It's not clear who in Iran's government has the authority to negotiate — or would be willing to, as Israel has vowed to continue killing the country's leaders.
Iran remains highly suspicious of the United States, which twice under the Trump administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the strikes that started the current war.
Zolfaghari said that the US was in no position to negotiate.
“The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he said. “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could.”
Speaking Tuesday at the White House, the president said the US is “in negotiations right now” and that the participants included special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.
“We have a number of people doing it,” Trump said. “And the other side, I can tell you, they'd like to make a deal.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's office said he has been discussing the war this week with several counterparts. But Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, denied Trump's claim of direct talks.
