US-Iran ceasefire on ‘life support’

President Donald Trump yesterday warned the ceasefire in the Middle East war was on “life support” after rejecting the latest counteroffer from Iran, which said its military stood ready to respond to any act of aggression.

The president’s angry reaction to Iran’s position -- delivered in response to a US proposal -- sent oil prices soaring and dashed hopes that a deal could be quickly negotiated to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.

After slamming the reply as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE”, Trump insisted the United States would see a “complete victory” over Iran, adding that the truce which has largely halted fighting in the Gulf for over a month, was on its last legs.

“The ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a one percent chance of living,’” he told reporters yesterday.

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Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who served as chief negotiator in previous talks with Washington, said shortly afterwards that his country was prepared “for any eventuality”.

“Our armed forces are ready to respond and to teach a lesson for any aggression,” he wrote on X. “A bad strategy and bad decisions always lead to bad results -- the world already understands this.”

The developments unnerved global energy markets already thrown into chaos by the war and the overlapping blockades imposed by Iran and the US in the Strait of Hormuz -- a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments.

“The energy supply shock that began in the first quarter is the largest the world has ever experienced,” the CEO and president of Saudi oil giant Aramco, Amin Nasser, told investors.

“If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance, and if its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalisation will last into 2027.”

Aside from energy, the world also faces a shortage of fertiliser -- much of which comes from Gulf ports -- and hence food for tens of millions of people.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), told AFP there were just a few weeks left to avert a potentially “massive humanitarian crisis”.

“We may witness a crisis that will force 45 million more people into hunger and starvation.”

Trump did not say what had offended him in Iran’s response, but Tehran’s foreign ministry said it had called for an end to the US naval blockade of its ports and to the war “across the region” -- implying a halt to Israel’s strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Crucially, ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters, Iran demanded the “release of assets belonging to the Iranian people, which have for years been unjustly trapped in foreign banks”.

This would not be just a return to the status quo before the US and Israel launched the war on February 28, but a victory in the Islamic republic’s long-standing campaign against its economic isolation.

“We did not demand any concessions. The only thing we demanded was Iran’s legitimate rights,” Baghaei said.

An end to international sanctions would diminish Washington’s leverage over Tehran as it tries to secure a lasting end to Iran’s nuclear enrichment.

The US, Israel and their allies have long accused Iran of seeking atomic weapons, an accusation Tehran has repeatedly denied.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the conflict would not end until Iran’s nuclear facilities were destroyed.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said Iran’s counterproposal had included the possibility of diluting some of its highly enriched uranium, with the rest transferred to a third country.

The lack of a path to resolution has focused concern on the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is restricting maritime traffic and establishing a payment mechanism to charge tolls for ships crossing.

US officials have stressed it would be “unacceptable” for Tehran to control the international waterway.

Trump told Fox News that he was considering reviving a short-lived US operation to guide oil tankers and other commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but that he had not yet made a final decision.

Saudi sources previously told AFP that Saudi Arabia had prohibited the US from using its airspace and bases for the operation the first time around, fearing “it would just escalate the situation and would not work”.

Trump is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday, where Iran is set to be among the topics discussed with Chinese President Xi Jinping as pressure mounts to end the conflict and the energy crisis it has triggered.

Trump has been leaning on China to use its influence to push Tehran toward a deal with Washington.

Baghaei suggested China could instead use the visit to push back against US objectives in the Gulf. “Our Chinese friends know very well how to use these opportunities to warn about the consequences of the US’s illegal and bullying actions on regional peace and security,” he said.

Meanwhile, the UK and France will today host a multinational meeting of defence ministers on military plans to restore trade flows through Hormuz, the British government said.

The announcement came hours after Iran warned London and Paris against sending warships to the region.

“The Defence Secretary John Healey will co-chair a meeting of over 40 nations, alongside his French counterpart, Minister Catherine Vautrin, for the multinational mission’s first Defence Minister’s meeting,” a British defence ministry statement said Sunday.

The virtual meeting follows a two-day gathering in London in April of military planners who thrashed out the practicalities of a multinational mission led by the UK and France to protect navigation in the key waterway following a sustainable ceasefire.

It comes as France and Britain despatched warships to the Middle East.

France has sent its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, to the region, and the UK on Saturday said it was sending a destroyer, HMS Dragon.

Both countries said the deployments were a “pre-positioning” ahead of any international mission to help protect shipping.