Al Jazeera

By Danai Nesta Kupemba and Nils Adler

    US President Donald Trump slams Iran’s response to Washington’s peace proposal as “totally unacceptable”.

    Iranian state media defends Tehran’s offer, saying US plan demanded Iran’s “surrender to Trump’s greed”.

    Some are rationing fuel. Others are reintroducing subsidies or limiting exports altogether. And the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, the worse it gets.

    Rising oil prices are driving up import bills, just as remittances fall and currencies weaken. Dollar-priced fuel, food, fertiliser and debt have all become more expensive, forcing governments to burn through reserves, borrow more or cut elsewhere.

    Watch the latest episode of Counting the Cost below:

Can Asian economies cope with the fallout from the Iran war

Israel says soldier killed near Lebanon border

    Israel’s military has announced the death of a soldier who was killed in combat in near the border of Lebanon.

    It said Alexander Glovanyov, 47, was a vehicle driver for the army and was killed on Sunday.

‘Nobody in Iran writes a plan to please Trump’

    We have more on the Iranian reaction to Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s latest peace offer.

    The semi-official Tasnim news agency cited an informed source as saying that Iran’s response “emphasises the fundamental rights of the Iranian nation”.

    The source said the response rejected Washington’s earlier plan, which Tehran viewed as an attempt to force a capitulation to Trump’s excessive demands.

    “Nobody in Iran writes a plan to please Trump. The negotiating team writes only for the rights of the Iranian nation. If Trump is unhappy with it, that is actually better,” the source said.

    “Trump simply does not like reality; that is why he keeps losing to Iran.”

Doctor says Israeli claims that Hezbollah uses ambulances in Lebanon ‘carry no weight’

    We’ve been speaking to Dr Tahir Mohammed, a surgeon who has worked in Lebanon and Gaza, about Israel’s escalating attacks on Lebanese health workers.

    He said he’s seen “absolutely no” evidence of Israel’s claim that Hezbollah was using ambulances to transport weapons in Lebanon.

    “What I would say in response to that is, the other day, we had a journalist in Lebanon attacked, and the ambulance and the aid workers wanted to get to her and they weren’t allowed. So, what was the argument there, when she died in southern Lebanon ” Mohammed said.

    “We’ve seen that footage of the ambulance workers in Gaza when they went to retrieve some injured persons, and then they were all massacred and then buried in shallow graves. So these arguments carry no weight”, he said.

    Mohammed added that he had seen his colleagues in Gaza killed with Israeli weapons, and so, “the same policy of targeting healthcare workers [in Lebanon] is consistency for them”.

What are the sticking points in Iran-US talks

    As we’ve been reporting, Trump has rejected Iran’s response to a 14-point plan from the US to end the war.

    Neither side has revealed the text of their proposals, but here’s a look at the main points of contention:

    Iran’s nuclear programme: The US wants Iran to halt the programme altogether, but Tehran says any such restrictions must be for a limited number of years.

    Iran’s uranium stockpile: Trump says the US wants to take custody of Iran’s stockpile of 400kg (880lbs) of highly-enriched uranium. Tehran has rejected the demand.

    Strait of Hormuz: Iran wants to formalise its control over shipping in the waterway, including by charging a transit fee, and demands that the US lift its blockade on Iranian ports. Trump says the blockade will remain in place until a deal is reached.

    Frozen assets: Iranian officials are demanding sanctions relief and the unfreezing of $20bn in assets as part of any lasting agreement.

    War reparations: Iran is demanding compensation for damages caused by US and Israeli attacks, amounting to about $270bn.

    Iran’s regional influence: The US wants to limit Tehran’s support ⁠for its regional allies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, and curb its ballistic missile programme.

‘These are not peace talks, they are pressure talks’

    Mark Pfeifle, founder and president of Off the Record Strategies, says Washington and Tehran are using pressure tactics to see who will cave first.

    “These are not peace talks, they are pressure talks,” Pfeifle said.

    He said the US is applying pressure through sanctions, naval power and the blockade, while Iran is applying pressure from inside the Strait of Hormuz, bringing “uncertainty, fear and disruption” to the whole process.

    “This is more of a contest to see which side can sustain pressure longer without losing control,” he said.

    For Trump, Pfeifle said, that means it is a “wait-and-see game”, as many options are off the table, leaving the US leader to try to wait the Iranian government out.

    And Iran is under significant strain, the analyst noted, as the rial is collapsing faster than diplomacy is moving, trading at about 1.84 million rials per US dollar.

    Inflation on some household goods, bread and cooking oil has surpassed 200 percent, with overall inflation running at about 50 percent, Pfeifle explained. However, he added that a leaked US intelligence assessment has complicated Trump’s position, predicting that Iran could withstand several more months of this level of pressure.

    “It’s unknown what Mr Trump’s next steps might be,” he said.

Iranian and Dutch FMs discuss regional developments in phone call

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has spoken to his Dutch counterpart, Tom Berendsen, over the phone, according to IRIB.

    In a post on its Telegram channel, Iran’s state media outlet said the two “exchanged views on issues related to bilateral relations and the latest ongoing regional and diplomatic developments”.

    Their conversation came after Araghchi spoke to his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, earlier in the day.

    “There is work to be done,” he said.

Iranian official says Tehran’s response ‘realistic and positive’

    We have more on Iran’s response to the US plan to end the war.

    An Iranian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera that Tehran’s reply was “realistic and positive”.

    According to the official, Iran’s response:

• focuses on ending the war throughout the region, especially in Lebanon, and resolving differences with the US;
• includes negotiations regarding the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear programme, and the complete lifting of sanctions;
• emphasises the necessity of a clear and guaranteed mechanism for lifting all forms of sanctions;
• emphasises the necessity of clear international guarantees regarding the implementation of any agreement that may be concluded with the US;

    is based on the country’s supreme interests and the outcomes of our consultations with countries in the region.

Pentagon chief denies senator’s claims that US munitions are running low

    US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has denied claims by Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain, who said US munitions have been “depleted” by the war on Iran.

    “‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth wrote on X.

    “Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely and dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received.”

    The remarks came in response to Kelly’s interview with CBS, in which he said he had been briefed by the Pentagon that the US has “expended a lot of munitions”, and warned that this left the US “less safe”.

    Kelly added that it would take “years” to replenish the stockpile, and that the shortages threaten the ability to handle a potential conflict with China.