President Donald Trump says the ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran is “on life support” after he rejected Tehran’s latest peace proposal.
“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living,'” he told reporters during an Oval Office event about maternal health on Monday.
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The standoff is likely to shape talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to China Tuesday. China has been a longtime ally of Iran and is the main importer of Iranian oil.
Combat operations could resume
Trump says he’s considering restarting “Project Freedom,” where the U.S. Navy escorts ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but also says that would only be part of a larger response.
Sources say Trump is also weighing a return to combat operations.
He met with his national security team Monday. Pentagon officials are pushing for a more aggressive response while others continue to urge diplomacy, a source with knowledge of the meeting told CNN.
But diplomacy isn’t getting Trump where he wants to be. Speaking about the current state of the ceasefire, Trump said, “It’s unbelievably weak. I would say — I would call it the weakest right now. After reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it. I said, ‘I’m not going to waste my time reading it.'”
Iranian leaders push back
Iranian officials are digging in, saying there is “no alternative” to their plan.
Iranian parliamentary speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned in a post on social media that without a deal, costs will continue to rise for the U.S.
Another member of Iran’s parliament, Ebrahim Rezaei, threatened that if American strikes resume, Iran could push uranium enrichment to 90%, which is considered weapons grade.
Right now, Iran’s stockpile of uranium is enriched to about 60%. That’s been a key sticking point in peace talks between Tehran and Washington, with Trump insisting Iran must give up all nuclear capabilities to end the war and Iran continuously refusing.
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