Trump says he is reviewing Iran peace plan but would consider new strikes

Donald Trump said he was reviewing Iran’s latest peace proposal but would consider resuming military strikes if Tehran were to “misbehave”.

The US president told reporters he still wanted to “eliminate” Iran’s missile production capacity, as the regime’s remaining capabilities could be a start from which it could “build up again”.

Asked if he could restart military strikes, Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday: “If they misbehave, if they do something bad — but right now, we’ll see. It’s a possibility that could happen, certainly.”

Hostilities in the US-Israeli war against Iran have been on pause since a ceasefire, which has since been extended, came into effect on April 7.

US efforts to broker a lasting end to the war, which began at the end of February, have foundered.

Trump oscillated in his remarks to reporters on Saturday entertaining the idea of resuming the war — now in its tenth week — while acknowledging that he was reviewing a 14-point proposal put forward by Tehran to end the war.

“We’re doing very well with regard to Iran. They want to make a deal,” he told reporters.

Trump later posted on social media that he would “soon be reviewing” the Iranian plan, but added he was sceptical it would form the basis of a deal.

“Can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected to travel to Pakistan last weekend for talks. But the trip was cancelled at the last minute by Trump, who has sought to blame disarray within Iranian leadership for holding up negotiations.

On Friday, Trump told reporters that Iran wants to “make a deal, but I’m not satisfied with it”.