Desperate Trump Sends Peace Plan to Iran

President Donald Trump has sent a peace plan to Iran—but is anyone actually reading it?The United States transmitted a 15-point peace plan to Iran through Pakistan, betraying the president’s eagerness to build an off-ramp from the spiraling conflict he helped launch in the Middle East, The New York Times reported Wednesday.But it wasn’t clear that the deal would be accepted, or even entertained, by Iran.Iranian representatives have submitted their own conditions for a ceasefire deal, including demands for the closure of all American bases in the Gulf, lifting sanctions, and reparations for the war, according to The Wall Street Journal. The officials also demanded that Tehran be permitted to keep its missile program and be allowed to collect fees from ships that pass through the Strait of Hormuz.While the exact details of Trump’s plan are unknown, it addressed Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, the targets of much of Israel and America’s bombing campaign, as well as maritime routes, the officials told the Times. Iranian officials have struggled to safely communicate or meet amid threats against their lives, U.S. officials told the Times. Iranian officials have previously flat-out ignored requests to negotiate with the United States, and denied having entered talks.It also wasn’t clear whether Israel was on board with the proposal. The Israeli military announced Wednesday morning that it had launched a new series of strikes against Tehran. Israel said that it had fired more than 15,000 since the war started. Iran continued its retaliatory strikes against Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps demanded assurances that the war would not restart, and requested that Israel stop strikes against Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned Lebanese militia.Despite Trump’s claim that U.S. officials have held productive conversations with Iran, the Pentagon is planning to deploy some 2,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Persian Gulf.