Tehran responds to Pakistan's two-phase peace plan Tehran has responded to Pakistan's two-phase peace plan which calls for 45 day ceasefire followed by negotiations to bring about a more lasting peace in the Iran conflict in a second phase.

As IntelliNews has reported the gulf between the two warring parties remains huge but there have been several attempts already to start negotiations. The Trump administration floated a 15-point plan last week that amounts to a little more than a call for Iran to demilitarize. The newly installed Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei counted it with a three-point list of demands on March 21 that called for security guarantees, reparations, and the control of the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator between the warring parties and together with China offered a compromise five-point list of concessions that has been rejected. However, this weekend Pakistan came up with a new two-phase plan to try and bring the two sides closer together.

That plan called for an immediate temporary ceasefire for 45 days followed by negotiations that would determine the key questions of security guarantees for Iran and control over the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran responded within hours on April 6 and offered its own 10 points plan.

Iran has issued a set of sweeping demands in response to a US-backed proposal for a 45-day ceasefire, according to diplomatic exchanges and official statements on April 6, as Israeli strikes targeted key infrastructure and senior intelligence leadership in the country.

The response, delivered through Pakistani intermediaries, was described by a senior US official speaking to NBC as “maximalist” offer, adding that it was “not clear if it will allow progress toward a diplomatic solution”. While the full document has not been published, details confirmed by Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran’s foreign ministry and US media including Axios and CBS indicate that Tehran ignore the temporary truce and goes straight for the long-term strategic reliance of the balance of power in the Gulf.

The initial reaction to the Pakistani two-phase proposal by IRGC-linked media was negative, rejecting the ceasefire idea as simply an opportunity for the US-Israeli coalition to have an opportunity to rearm and regroup.

Iran is seeking an immediate and permanent end to hostilities rather than a time-limited ceasefire. Tehran effectively ignored any effort to find a middle ground for negotiations and went straight to its wish-list of conditions that it would find acceptable to end the conflict. That includes full sanctions relief, reconstruction of damaged infrastructure at the coalition’s expense, and a new framework governing transit through the Strait of Hormuz on terms set by Tehran. The proposals also include calls for an end to related regional conflicts.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran had “prepared the set of demands based on our own interests” and would announce further details “at the appropriate time”. He added that negotiations were “in no way compatible with ultimatum, crime, or threats”.

US officials expressed a limited optimism about the prospects for agreement within the proposed timeframe. The White House described the ceasefire plan as “one of many ideas” and confirmed that President Donald Trump “has not signed off”, while maintaining a deadline set for April 7 to bomb the entire country into irrelevance, US President Donald Trump said again on the same day. Mediators told Axios on April 6 that the chances of a breakthrough were “slim”.

Iran’s response comes after another destructive weekend, where US and Israeli jets bombed Iran’s major petrochemical plant and assassinated more senior members of the Islamic Republic with targeted missiles strikes.

The gulf between the two sides remains very wide, but some commentators became more optimistic as although direct negotiations have not begun, nor even between Pakistani intermediators, the two sides are now issuing offers and counteroffers, which is seen as modest progress. The future of any possible will depends heavily on if Trump follows through on his threat to destroy Iran’s power sector this week.