Serious Negotiations Under Way to End Iran War

March 27—Much to the chagrin of chief war hawk and Crusader, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, and Israel's messianic Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, there is a serious discussion between the Trump Administration and the Iranian leadership aimed at laying out a plan to end the near-month-old war against Iran. Sources report that Iran has made a counterproposal to President Donald Trump’s 15-point peace proposal; Washington should have a copy of the Iranian counteroffer by tomorrow.

Sources close to the Iranian leadership say that its desire for face-to-face talks should be met early next week, with meetings slated to take place in Pakistan.

A source familiar with the Trump plan said that the war hawks in the media and Washington have dismissed it as a non-starter, but those familiar with the discussions say that it contains some new ideas—including immediate and full sanction relief, as well as a discussion of future plans to demilitarize the Gulf, which could reduce U.S. presence—one of Iran's key demands.

Trump’s Evolving Position on Iran’s Commitments

From Trump's side, the President has been emphasizing Iran's commitment to end its nuclear weapons development for all time. "People know Iran has made that commitment from the beginning of new talks last year," said a source. "That Trump now makes a big deal about it likely means that he now believes the commitment is real—something that could incentivize an agreement."

The source also stressed that both Iran and the U.S. agree the deal must “set the tone and stage for a new security and development agreement” to serve the entire region. "This is important because by bringing in other players in the region, and quite likely the Russians as well, it helps overcome the suspicion and mistrust created by the U.S. now twice abandoning negotiations that were making progress, only to launch attacks on Iran. How do they know that this won't happen again? They don't, but the presence of regional actors makes it less likely."

Israel’s Opposition and Trump’s Leverage

The source says that the Israelis have been briefed on what is going on and they don't like it one bit. They have told Trump that he may not go along with any deal. But this gives Trump a chance to correct a major perception about who is in charge. Several sources report that the Israelis dragged Trump into the war by simply saying that they were already committed to an attack and would not agree to any nuclear treaty with Tehran. "Now Trump has a chance to demand that Bibi sign on, or the U.S. will cancel arms sales to Israel. Trump can apply the hammers and show who is boss. He may have to do this to get a deal signed."

The source cautioned that all of this could still collapse, and that the British, for one, seem to be preparing for a long war. Israeli Defense Minister Katz said this morning that Israel intended to intensify its bombing campaign on Iran in response to alleged Iranian strikes on civilian targets in Israel. This comes as Israel also prepares “deadly blows against Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

Can This Happen?

"There are many reasons that all this could fail and not even bring about a ceasefire," the source concluded. "But there is one big reason it might succeed—because, for Trump, this is his only real way out of a mess that he should have been smart enough to avoid in the first place." This and other sources said that for any peace plan to actually work, that the new regional security and development architecture would have to "take up the Palestinian issue. There has be some pathway towards a Palestinian state, of everything can come undone."

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the leaders of the G-7 nations today in France that the U.S. expected the war to be over within 4 weeks, regardless of the outcome of negotiations. He said the U.S. would end hostilities, with its war aims fully achieved. Yesterday, clearly more cognizant of the ongoing negotiations, Trump extended by another 10 days the deadline he had placed on Tehran to full reopen the Strait of Hormuz, to allow the free flow of energy resources from the Gulf.