{"id":41163,"date":"2026-02-21T06:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T06:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=41163"},"modified":"2026-02-21T06:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T06:04:26","slug":"iran-prepares-counterproposal-as-trump-weighs-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=41163","title":{"rendered":"Iran prepares counterproposal as Trump weighs strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"
Iran’s\u00a0foreign minister said on Friday he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days following\u00a0nuclear talks\u00a0with the United States this week, while US\u00a0President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0said he was considering limited military strikes.<\/p>\n

Two US\u00a0officials told Reuters that\u00a0US\u00a0military planning\u00a0on Iran had reached an advanced stage, with options including targeting individuals as part of an attack and even pursuing leadership change in Tehran, if ordered by Trump.<\/p>\n

Trump on Thursday gave Tehran a deadline of 10 to 15 days to make a deal to resolve their longstanding nuclear dispute or face “really bad things” amid a US\u00a0military buildup in the Middle East that has fueled fears of a wider war.<\/p>\n

Threats of attack follow crackdown on mass protests<\/p>\n

Asked on Friday if he was considering a limited strike to pressure Iran into a deal, Trump told reporters at the White House: “I guess I can say I am considering it.”\u00a0Asked later about Iran at a White House press conference, Trump added: “They better negotiate a fair deal.”<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0Trump says weighing strike on Iran as Tehran says draft deal coming soon<\/p>\n

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said after\u00a0indirect discussions in Geneva\u00a0this week with Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner that the sides had reached an understanding on the main “guiding principles,” but that did not mean a deal was imminent.<\/p>\n

Araqchi, in an interview on MS NOW, said he had a draft counterproposal that could be ready in the next two or three days for top Iranian officials to review, with more US-Iran talks possible in a week or so.<\/p>\n

Military action would complicate efforts to reach a deal, he added.<\/p>\n

After the US\u00a0and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities and some military sites in June, Trump again began threatening strikes in January as Tehran crushed\u00a0widespread protests\u00a0with deadly force.<\/p>\n

Referring to the crackdown on Friday, Trump said there was a difference between the people of Iran and the\u00a0country’s leadership.\u00a0He asserted that “32,000 people were killed over a relatively short period of time,” figures that could not immediately be verified.<\/p>\n

“It’s a very, very, very sad situation,” Trump said, adding that his threats to strike Iran had led the leadership to abandon plans for mass hangings two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

“They were going to hang 837 people. And I gave them the word, if you hang one person, even one person, that you’re going to be hit right then and there,” he said.<\/p>\n

The US-based group HRANA, which monitors the human rights situation in Iran, has recorded 7,114 verified deaths and says it has another 11,700 under review.<\/p>\n

Hours after Trump’s statements on the death toll, Araqchi said that the Iranian government has already published a “comprehensive list” of all 3,117 killed in the unrest.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0US, Israel warn Iran amid military buildup<\/p>\n

“If anyone doubts the accuracy of our data, please speak with evidence,” he posted on X.<\/p>\n

Araqchi says deal possible in ‘very short period’<\/p>\n

Araqchi gave no specific timing as to when Iranians would get their counterproposal to Witkoff and Kushner, but said he believed a diplomatic deal was within reach and could be achieved “in a very short period of time”.<\/p>\n

United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reiterated concerns about heightened rhetoric and increased military activities in the region.<\/p>\n

“We encourage both the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue to engage in diplomacy to settle the differences,” Dujarric told a regular news briefing at the UN.<\/p>\n

During the Geneva talks, the United States did not seek zero uranium enrichment and Iran did not offer to suspend enrichment, Araqchi told MS NOW, a US\u00a0cable television news network.<\/p>\n

“What we are now talking about is how to make sure that Iran’s nuclear program, including enrichment, is peaceful and would remain peaceful forever,” he said.<\/p>\n

He added that technical and political “confidence-building measures” would be enacted to ensure the program would remain peaceful in exchange for action on sanctions, but he gave no further details.<\/p>\n

“The president has been clear that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them, and that they cannot enrich uranium,” the White House said when asked about Araqchi’s comments.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran’s\u00a0foreign minister said on Friday he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days following\u00a0nuclear talks\u00a0with the United States this week, while US\u00a0President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0said he was considering limited military strikes. Two US\u00a0officials told Reuters that\u00a0US\u00a0military planning\u00a0on Iran had reached an advanced stage, with options including targeting individuals as part of an attack and even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}