Strikes Continue As Pakistan Awaits Iran's Response to US Peace Proposal
By Reuters | 25 Mar, 2026

A response could lead to peace talks in either Pakistan or Turkey as strikes by Israel and Iran continue across the Mideast and Iranian military and foreign ministry officials continue taunting Trump.

A projectile launched from Iran heads towards Israel, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 25, 2026. REUTERS/ Mohammed Torokman

Pakistan has followed up with Iran after delivering a U.S. proposal to de-escalate the war in the Gulf, and is still awaiting a formal reply from Tehran, a senior Pakistani security official said on Wednesday.

A senior Iranian official confirmed earlier that Tehran had received a proposal passed on via Pakistan and said that talks, if they went ahead, could be held in either Pakistan or Turkey.

The Iranian official's comments were among rare signs that Tehran might consider diplomatic proposals despite saying in public that no talks are under way and it will make no deals with the administration of President Donald Trump.

The Iranian source, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not disclose details of the proposal passed on by Pakistan, or say whether it was the same as a 15-point U.S. framework previously reported by news outlets including Reuters.

NO RESPONSE FROM IRAN 

Oil prices fell and shares regained some ground on Wednesday after reports that Washington had sent the 15-point plan to Iran, with investors hoping for an end to nearly four weeks of war that has killed thousands and disrupted global energy supplies.

The senior Pakistani security official said Pakistani intelligence had delivered the U.S. proposal to Iran, and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had followed up with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.

So far there had been no response from the Iranians, or any confirmed dates or venue for talks, the Pakistani official said. 

Three Israeli cabinet sources said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet had been briefed on the U.S. proposal. They said its terms included removing Iran's stocks of highly enriched uranium, halting enrichment, curbing its ballistic missile programme and ending funding for regional allies.

The Pentagon is meanwhile planning to send thousands of airborne troops to the Gulf to give Trump more options to order a ground assault, sources have told Reuters, adding to two contingents of Marines already on their way. The first Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard a huge amphibious assault ship could arrive around the end of the month.

IRANIAN MILITARY RULES OUT DEAL WITH TRUMP

Pakistan has already offered to host talks attended by senior U.S. officials as soon as this week. A senior ruling party official in Turkey, Harun Armagan, told Reuters that Ankara was also "playing a role passing messages" between Iran and the U.S.

But so far there has been no public recognition from Iran that it is willing to negotiate at all, and its assertions that it will not do so have become increasingly caustic.

"Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself?" the top spokesperson for Iran's joint military command, Ebrahim Zolfaqari, taunted Trump in comments on Iranian state TV.

"People like us can never get along with people like you," he said. "As we have always said ... no one like us will make a deal with you. Not now. Not ever."

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Beghaei, appearing on television in India, said nuclear talks had already been under way when Trump attacked. He called this "a betrayal of diplomacy" that proved further talks were pointless.

There are "no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States", he said. "No one can trust United States diplomacy. Our position is clear on what they have claimed. Right now, our brave military is focused on defending Iran's territory and sovereignty against this brutal and illegal war."

A senior Israeli defence official said Israel was sceptical Iran would agree to the terms, and that Israel was concerned that the terms were only starting points for negotiations, during which U.S. negotiators might make concessions.

TRUMP'S SOFTER STANCE SOOTHES MARKETS

A source familiar with Israel's war plans said Israel wanted any U.S.-Iranian agreement to preserve Israel's option to conduct pre-emptive strikes.

Trump said early in the war that it would end only with Tehran's "unconditional surrender", but has abruptly changed tack this week, saying "productive" talks were already under way with unspecified Iranian officials.

His softer stance has brought a respite in financial markets, which have see-sawed but largely stabilised since Monday when he postponed a threat to escalate the bombing by attacking Iran's civilian energy system.

Iran has consistently said no such talks have taken place, and derided Trump's announcement as an attempt to buy time and placate markets. [MKTS/GLOB]

MORE STRIKES 

The war has raged on with no let-up in air attacks against Iran, or in Iranian drone and missile strikes against Israel and U.S. allies.

An Israeli military official, asked whether Israel had adjusted its military plans since Trump said talks were under way, said it was "pretty much business as usual". 

The Israeli military described several new waves of attacks on Iran during the day, including one on Iran's construction of ships and submarines.

The semi-official Iranian SNN News Agency said a residential area was hit in Tehran, with rescuers searching the rubble. 

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia said they had repelled new drone attacks. Drones targeted a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, causing a fire but no casualties, Kuwait's Civil Aviation Authority said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had launched new attacks against Israel and U.S. bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain.

Since the start of what the U.S. calls "Operation Epic Fury", Iran has attacked countries that host U.S. bases and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.

Iran has told the United Nations Security Council and the International Maritime Organization that "non-hostile vessels" may transit the strait if they coordinate with Iranian authorities. In practice, however, only Iran's own oil and a handful of ships from friendly countries have made it through.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alex Richardson)