US sends Iran a plan to end war – reports

The United States has sent to Iran a 15-point plan to end the war that would include strict limits on its nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, reports said Tuesday.

The New York Times, quoting two anonymous officials, said that the proposal was sent to Iran via Pakistan, which has offered to mediate.

Israel’s Channel 12 said that the United States and Iran would declare a month-long ceasefire during which they would negotiate on the basis of the proposal.

The plan calls for the end of any uranium enrichment on Iranian soil and the handing over of enriched material, which Israel and the United States say could be developed into a nuclear bomb, Channel 12 said.

It said that Iran would also allow unimpeded access through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow chokeway into the Gulf through which one-fifth of the world’s oil flows, after its retaliatory partial blockade sent global energy prices soaring.

Iran, in turn, would see an end to all sanctions, the Israeli report said.

Iran would also receive assistance in developing civil nuclear energy at Bushehr, a key site that Tehran on Tuesday accused Israel of striking.

The White House and State Department did not immediately comment on the reports.

Trump earlier Tuesday said he was optimistic about diplomacy with Iran, which he attacked alongside Israel on February 28 in a massive campaign that started with the killing of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

There was no talk in the apparent plan of forcing governmental change in Iran, whose cleric-run state weeks earlier ruthlessly put down mass protests, killing thousands. /apl