Ahead of a possible summit between Iranian and U.S. representatives, likely to be held in Pakistan, a U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal overnight that Iran’s demands for an agreement to end the war are “ridiculous and unrealistic.”
American and Arab officials said the hardline stance by Iran’s ruling clerical establishment would make reaching a deal even more difficult than before the war, when negotiations between the sides were already underway.
According to the report, the demands were set by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful military force that has effectively taken control of decision-making since the outbreak of the war and the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The conditions include closing all U.S. military bases in the Middle East, paying compensation for damage caused by strikes in Iran and establishing a new regime in the Strait of Hormuz — a strategic shipping route — under which Iran would be able to collect fees from passing vessels, similar to Egypt’s model in the Suez Canal.
Iran is also demanding guarantees that the war will not resume, meaning that Israel and the United States would not carry out future strikes, an end to Israeli attacks against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, and the removal of all sanctions on Tehran. At the same time, Iran is refusing any limits on its missile program and opposes negotiating the issue altogether.
Iran reiterated Thursday its demand to close all U.S. bases in the region, including in Gulf states that it repeatedly targeted during the war. The military’s emergency command, known as Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Iran would be prepared to form a regional security and military alliance in place of the United States. “The Islamic Republic declares its readiness to establish a security and military alliance in the region without the United States and Israel,” the headquarters said. “We do not need a country thousands of kilometers away to ensure the security of our region.”
An Iranian military spokesperson also mocked U.S. efforts to reach a ceasefire, suggesting Washington was effectively negotiating with itself. Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya, made the remarks in a prerecorded video broadcast on state television. “The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he said. “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could. Don’t dress up your defeat as an agreement. Your era of empty promises has come to an end.”
His comments came shortly after the Trump administration sent a 15-point ceasefire proposal to Iran via Pakistan. Zolfaghari dismissed the effort outright. “Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?” he said. “Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way: Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you. Not now, not ever.”
First published: 07:33, 03.25.26