Iran Rejects Ceasefire Proposal as Trump Deadline Looms

Iran on Monday rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants a permanent end to the war, as President Trump's ultimatum loomed within hours. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Tehran had conveyed its response through Pakistan, a key mediator. "We won't merely accept a ceasefire," Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, told the AP. "We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won't be attacked again." Trump wants Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz or see its power plants and bridges attacked. Ferdousi Pour said Iranian and Omani officials were working on a mechanism for administering the shipping chokepoint.

The rejection came as Israel struck a key petrochemical plant in the massive South Pars natural gas field and killed two paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commanders. The gas field attack aimed at eliminating a major source of revenue for Iran, Israel said. The field is critical to electricity production, but the strike appeared to be separate from Trump's threats to target power plants and bridges if Tehran doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic by 8pm Monday night Washington time. The White House did not immediately comment, though Trump was set to speak to journalists Monday afternoon in his first public appearance since Wednesday. He had been relatively quiet during the rescue of downed US aviators in Iran.

After Israel's attack on South Pars in March, Trump said Israel would not attack it again but warned that if Iran continued striking Qatar's energy infrastructure, the United States would "massively blow up" the field. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei earlier told journalists that messages were being exchanged with mediators but "negotiations are entirely incompatible with ultimatums, crimes and threats of war crimes." Meanwhile, explosions boomed in Tehran and low-flying jets could be heard for hours. Among those killed was the head of intelligence for Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, according to Iranian state media and Israel's defense minister. Israel said it also killed the leader of the Revolutionary Guard's undercover unit in its expeditionary Quds Force, Asghar Bakeri.