President Donald Trump said Monday that the ceasefire with Iran is on “massive life support,” sharply lowering expectations for a quick end to the war after rejecting Tehran’s latest response to a U.S. peace proposal.
Speaking during an Oval Office event, Trump described the ceasefire as “unbelievably weak” and called Iran’s counterproposal “a piece of garbage,” according to USA Today. He said the truce had “approximately a 1% chance” of surviving, a blunt assessment that came after he wrote Sunday that Iran’s response was “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.”
The new comments mark a fresh escalation in the diplomatic track around the Strait of Hormuz crisis. Washington has pushed for a deal that would end the fighting, reopen the crucial oil shipping lane, and roll back Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran, meanwhile, says the U.S. demands are one-sided and that its own offer is focused on ending the war, lifting restrictions on Iranian ports, restoring frozen assets, and guaranteeing safe passage through Hormuz.
Iran Says Its Demands Are Legitimate
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused the United States of making “unreasonable” demands in talks to end the war, Al Jazeera reported Monday. Baghaei said Iran had not demanded concessions, but had asked for an end to hostilities, the lifting of what Tehran calls a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and security arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz.
“Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and establishing security in the region and Lebanon were other demands of Iran,” Baghaei said, calling the proposal “generous and responsible.”
Trump’s response suggests the White House sees the Iranian offer very differently. USA Today reported that Reuters, citing Iranian state media, said Iran’s response emphasized sovereignty over the strait, called for war reparations from the United States, and framed the U.S. proposal as a demand for surrender.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signaled that Tehran would not publicly frame diplomacy as capitulation. “We will never bow our heads before the enemy,” he wrote on X, adding that negotiation does not mean “surrender or retreat.”
Hormuz Pressure Is Back on the Table
The stakes remain centered on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that handles a major share of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows. The war has already disrupted maritime traffic, raised shipping risk, and pushed energy prices higher.
Al Jazeera reported that Brent crude rose more than 4% during Monday morning trade in Asia after Trump rejected Iran’s response. USA Today reported that Brent futures climbed to $104.50 a barrel Sunday evening, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate also moved higher.
The diplomatic breakdown comes after several tense days in the Gulf. USA Today reported that the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted two drones coming from Iran, Qatar condemned a drone attack on a cargo ship coming from Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait said its air defenses responded to hostile drones entering its airspace.
Those incidents have increased pressure on European and Gulf states to find a path back to maritime transit without triggering a wider naval confrontation.
Europe’s Hormuz Mission Faces Iranian Warning
Baghaei also warned European countries against moving into the Strait of Hormuz under U.S. or Israeli pressure. Britain and France are preparing a multinational meeting of defense ministers on Tuesday about restoring trade flows through the strait, according to Al Jazeera.
France and Britain have discussed a broader maritime security effort involving more than 50 countries and international organizations. French President Emmanuel Macron has said the effort would be designed to support the resumption of traffic once conditions allow, not to launch a unilateral confrontation with Iran.
Iran is not accepting that distinction. Baghaei said any intervention in the Strait of Hormuz or the Persian Gulf would create “further complications” and worsen the crisis.
Why This Is a New Inflection Point
The latest development is not just another stalled-talks headline. Trump’s “massive life support” remark is the clearest public signal yet that the White House believes the current ceasefire framework may collapse, even as Iran insists its counterproposal is a legitimate basis for ending the war.
That leaves three pressure points moving at once: a fragile ceasefire, a blocked or restricted Hormuz shipping lane, and competing military plans to secure maritime traffic. If those tracks keep diverging, the crisis could shift quickly from negotiation failure to renewed naval confrontation.
For now, the public positions are hardening. Washington says Iran’s offer is unacceptable. Tehran says U.S. terms are unreasonable. Global markets are reacting as if the Strait of Hormuz remains a live chokepoint risk.
And the ceasefire, by Trump’s own words, is barely alive.
Sources: USA Today, Al Jazeera.