Senior officials in Jerusalem told Epoch Magazine Israel that as part of these efforts, one of the options under consideration is a temporary 45-day cease-fire.
U.S. President Donald Trump has referred to an Iranian proposal as “significant” as efforts intensify to reach a diplomatic breakthrough ahead of the White House’s deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels.
Iran shut the waterway after the United States launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, but Tehran later said it would permit ships that had no links to the United States, Israel, or any U.S. allies to pass through.
Pakistan, which is mediating between the United States and Iran in an effort to achieve a cease-fire, is continuing to search for a workable formula before the U.S. deadline expires at 8 p.m. ET on April 7.
The spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, said on April 6 that Tehran rejected Trump’s deadline for a cease-fire, according to Tasnim, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated news agency.
Iran’s state-owned IRNA news agency said on its Telegram channel that Tehran had sent a counterproposal to Pakistan, in which it also rejected a cease-fire and emphasized the necessity of a permanent end to the war.
IRNA said Iran’s response consists of 10 clauses, including a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of sanctions, and an end to the conflict in the region.
Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House on April 6, said of the Iranian proposal: “It is a significant proposal. It’s a significant step. It’s not good enough, but it’s a very significant step.”
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Senior officials in Jerusalem told Epoch Magazine Israel that one of the options under consideration was a temporary 45-day cease-fire, during which the parties would discuss the terms of a comprehensive agreement to end the war.
Trump had extended his ultimatum deadline to allow additional time for negotiations, but Israeli officials said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leadership had been unwilling to compromise.
Israel is preparing for a potential escalation in the conflict if talks fail, the officials said, and they noted that a last-minute agreement cannot be ruled out.
Israel struck a petrochemical plant in Iran’s South Pars gas field on April 6.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his country’s air force had carried out “a powerful strike on the largest petrochemical facility in Iran.”
Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said there would be “no immunity” for Iran, regardless of talks about a cease-fire.
South Pars, in the Persian Gulf, is part of the world’s largest gas field, which is shared with Qatar.
When Israel struck South Pars on March 18, Trump said it was “out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East” and took place without his knowledge.
In an April 5 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!”
He also warned the Iranians that if they do not open the Strait of Hormuz, they will be “living in Hell.”
Iranian officials have warned that they would respond with swift escalation if Trump were to follow through on his threat.
Iran Signals Escalation Risk
Washington has demanded a full reopening of the strait as a condition for de-escalation, even as Iranian officials signal that they intend to maintain long-term control over the waterway and defend it with full military force, setting up a high-stakes deadline showdown.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi vowed a “decisive” and “regret-inducing” response to Trump’s threat, and the IRGC signaled broader, more intense strikes if civilian infrastructure is targeted.
In a post on X, responding to Trump’s threat, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said the whole region “is going to burn.”
“Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands,” he wrote.
“The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game,” he wrote in a follow-up post.
The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial waterway located just south of Iran, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas is transported. A majority of the oil and gas that passed through the waterway went to Asia, while the United States and Europe were buying about 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively, of the crude moving through the strait.
The price of Brent crude oil hit a high of $111.89 late on April 5 but was trading at $108.61 as of 6 a.m. ET on April 6.
Iran has allowed some ships through the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks, but traffic is down by more than 90 percent from the same period last year.
Three Omani-operated tankers, a French-owned container ship, and a Japanese-owned gas carrier have crossed the strait since April 2, shipping data showed, reflecting Iran’s policy to allow passage for vessels it deems friendly.
A container ship owned by France’s CMA CGM transited the strait on April 2, the day that French President Emmanuel Macron said that only diplomatic efforts, not a military operation, could open the waterway.
The French vessel changed its automatic identification system destination to “Owner France” before entering Iranian waters, signaling its nationality to Iranian authorities.
On April 3, two oil tankers and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship made it through the strait while hugging the coast of Oman.
At least one of the ships was owned by an Omani shipping company, and the Omani Foreign Ministry has said the deputy foreign ministers of Iran and Oman have met to discuss passage through the strait.
The Dhalkut, Habrut, and Sohar LNG were the first vessels in more than three weeks to have passed through the strait without passing through an Iranian “tollbooth” north of the island of Larak.
On April 6, the United States and Israel continued to exchange fire with the Iranian regime.
Iranian state-owned Tasnim News Agency reported that the IRGC had said that Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, the IRGC’s intelligence chief, had been killed during an air strike on April 6.
In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed Khademi had been eliminated.
“Khademi worked to advance terrorist attacks worldwide, and was responsible for monitoring Iranian civilians as part of the regime’s suppression of internal protests,” it stated.
Two people were found dead after a residential building in Haifa, in northern Israel, was hit by an Iranian missile early on April 6.
Explosions from air strikes could be heard all night in Tehran, and in the morning, thick black smoke rose near Tehran’s Azadi Square after one air strike hit the grounds of the Sharif University of Technology.
In a post on X, the International Atomic Energy Agency said air strikes had come as close as 80 yards from the perimeter of the nuclear power plant at Bushehr in southern Iran.
It said the agency’s director general, Rafael Grossi, warned that the Bushehr nuclear plant contained large amounts of nuclear fuel and that a direct hit could cause a “severe radiological accident with harmful consequences for people and the environment in Iran and beyond.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
