CAIRO (AP) — Iran and the United States have received a draft proposal that calls for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to try and find a way to end the war, two Mideast officials have told The Associated Press.
The proposal comes from Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators working to halt the fighting, the two officials said. They hope the 45-day window would provide enough time for extensive talks between the countries to reach a permanent ceasefire.
Iran and the U.S. have not responded to the proposal, sent late Sunday night to both Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.
It remains unclear whether the sides would agree to such terms. Iran has insisted it will keep fighting until it receives financial reparations and a promise that it won’t be attacked again. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iranian bridges and power stations this week.
The news website Axios first reported on terms of the proposal.
Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported the head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed Monday in an attack targeting him. The Guard blamed the attack on the United States and Israel.
It did not elaborate on where Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi was killed. However, multiple airstrikes targeted residential areas around Iran’s capital, Tehran, early Monday morning.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks Monday that killed more than 25 people in Iran. Tehran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Tehran to reopen the loomed.
Explosions rang out into the night in Tehran and low-flying jets could be heard for hours as the capital was pounded. Thick black smoke rose near the city's Azadi Square after one airstrike hit the Sharif University of Technology grounds.
Two people were found dead in the rubble of a residential building in Haifa, according to Israeli authorities. The search was ongoing for two more even as new Iranian missile attacks hit the northern Israel city early Monday.
Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates both activated their air defense systems to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and drones, as Tehran kept up the pressure on its Gulf neighbors. Iran's regular attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its stranglehold on the , through which a fifth of the world's oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent .
Under pressure at home as are growing increasingly concerned, gave Tehran a deadline that expires Monday night, Washington time, saying if no deal was reached to reopen the strait the U.S. would hit Iran's power plants and other infrastructure targets and set the country “back to the stone ages.â€
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,†he threatened in a social media post, adding that if Iran did not open the strait “you'll be living in Hell.â€
Trump's deadline to open Hormuz strait looms but no signs of Tehran backing off
Tehran has shown no signs of backing down off of its stranglehold on shipping through the strait, which was fully open before Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start .
Following Trump’s expletive-laced posts on Easter Sunday, Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called the threats of targeting Iran’s infrastructure “reckless.â€
“You won’t gain anything through war crimes,†Qalibaf wrote on X. “The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game.â€
Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose to $109 in early Monday spot trading, some 50% higher than it was when the war started.
Iran has let some vessels through the strait since the war began, but none belonging to the U.S., Israel or countries perceived as helping them. Some have and the overall flow of traffic is down more than 90% over the same period last year.
Beyond Trump's military threats, diplomatic efforts are still underway to see if a solution can be reached to open the waterway.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry said that deputy foreign ministers and experts from Iran and Oman met to discuss proposals to ensure “smooth transit†through the strait.
Egypt said that Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had spoken with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and with Turkish and Pakistani counterparts. Russia said that Araghchi also spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Airstrikes kill more than 25 across Iran
One of Monday's morning airstrikes targeted Tehran's Sharif University of Technology, where Iranian media reported damage to the buildings as well as a natural gas distribution site next to the campus.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been targeted on the grounds of the university, which is empty of students as the war has forced all schools into the country into online classes. However, multiple countries over the years have sanctioned the university for its work with the military, particularly on Iran’s ballistic missile program, which is controlled by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
A strike near Eslamshar, southwest of Tehran, killed at least 13 people, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. Five others were killed when a residential area in the city of Qom was hit, and six more were killed in strikes on other cities, the state-run IRAN daily newspaper reported.
Three more people were killed when an airstrike hit a home in Tehran, Iranian state television reported.
War's death toll in the thousands
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but its government has not updated the toll for days.
In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, more than 1,400 people and more than 1 million people . Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there while militants.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. have been killed.
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Rising reported from Bangkok.
