Trump: Iran ceasefire proposal ‘significant,’ ‘not good enough’

President Trump said Monday the latest ceasefire proposal from Iran was “significant” but still “not good enough.”

“They made a proposal, and it’s a significant proposal. It’s a significant step. It’s not good enough, but it’s a very significant step,” Trump told reporters ahead of the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll. “They have made and they’re negotiating now, and they’ve made a very significant step. We’ll see what happens.”

Trump has threatened Iran would face “all Hell” with military strikes on its power plants and bridges if Tehran doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Monday night in Washington, D.C.

But Iran on Monday rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants to permanently end the war in exchange to loosening its grip on the key trade corridor, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

“The Iranian Foreign Ministry officially rejects the reported ‘15-point’ U.S. proposal as ‘unrealistic,’ the Iranian government said in a post on the social platform X. “Iran firmly refuses any negotiations conducted under the shadow of illegal sanctions, military threats, or coercion. #Diplomacy requires mutual respect, not pressure.”

In a brief phone interview with The Hill on Sunday, Trump said he was not ruling out troops on the ground in Iran if the country does not come to a deal.

“Normal people would make a deal. Smart people would make a deal,” Trump said. “If they were smart, they would make a deal.” 

Two Middle Eastern officials also told The Associated Press that mediators from Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey sent a proposal to Washington and Tehran with terms including a ceasefire lasting 45 days and the Strait of Hormuz reopening.

Asked about the possible ceasefire on Monday, Trump would not confirm a 45 day extension, saying that Iran would “like to have a ceasefire because they’re getting obliterated. We’ll see.”

Trump’s threats to strike Iran’s infrastructure have been criticized as amounting to war crimes should they take place. 

Asked Monday how such military attacks would not be considered war crimes, Trump replied: “Because they killed 45,000 people in the last month, more than that, it could be as much as 60,000. They killed protesters. They’re animals. And we have to stop them, and we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon, very simple.”

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