Iran Scoffs at US Ceasefire Plan       03/25 06:08

   Iran has received an American 15-point plan for a ceasefire for the Iran war 
through intermediaries from Pakistan, officials in Islamabad said Wednesday. 
The proposal was sent even as Washington began to move paratroopers to the 
Middle East to back up a contingent of Marines already heading to the region.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran has received an American 15-point 
plan for a ceasefire for the Iran war through intermediaries from Pakistan, 
officials in Islamabad said Wednesday. The proposal was sent even as Washington 
began to move paratroopers to the Middle East to back up a contingent of 
Marines already heading to the region.

   Iran's military scoffed at the diplomatic efforts and launched more attacks 
Wednesday on Israel and the Persian Gulf region, including an assault that 
sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport, sending black smoke 
billowing into the sky.

   The Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they 
weren't authorized to release details, described the 15-point plan broadly as 
touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of 
Iran's nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, 
missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

   Iran's attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its chokehold on the 
Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil 
is shipped, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and rocked world markets over 
fears of a global energy crisis.

   More US troops on the way even as diplomacy continues

   At least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to the 
Mideast in the coming days, three people with knowledge of the plans told The 
Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive 
military plans.

   The Pentagon is also in the process of deploying two Marine units that will 
add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region.

   U.S. President Donald Trump has said that American officials are in 
negotiations with Iran, though he hasn't said who they are in contact with. 
Iran's Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands both the regular 
military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, suggested there are no talks.

   "Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating 
with yourselves?" said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the 
headquarters.

   "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," 
Zolfaghari said in the video statement aired on state television. "Not now, not 
ever."

   Israeli officials, who have been advocating for Trump to continue the war 
against Iran, were surprised by the submission of a ceasefire plan, according 
to an official briefed on the proposal who spoke on condition of anonymity 
because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about it.

   The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

   Israel launches new wide-scale strikes on Iran

   The Israeli military announced it had begun new wide-scale attacks early 
Wednesday on Iran targeting government infrastructure, and witnesses reported 
airstrikes in the northwestern city of Qazvin.

   Missile alert sirens sounded multiple times in Israel as Iran launched its 
own attacks, which have been a daily occurrence since Israel and the U.S. 
attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.

   Iran also kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors, with Saudi 
Arabia's Defense Ministry saying it had destroyed at least eight drones in the 
kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province, and missile alert sirens sounding in 
Bahrain.

   Kuwait said it shot down multiple drones but one hit a fuel tank at Kuwait 
International Airport, sparking a fire, the General Civil Aviation Authority 
said. Firefighters were working to contain the blaze.

   Brent crude oil, the international standard, has neared US$120 a barrel 
during the conflict but was trading at around $100 in morning trading as talks 
of a possible ceasefire helped calm prices. That's still up nearly 40% from the 
start of the war.

   Iran has allowed a small number of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which 
leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, but none from the U.S., Israel 
or countries seen as linked with them.

   Asked in an interview with India Today on Tuesday whether Iran was charging 
ships for passage, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said 
"absolutely," but did not elaborate.

   Diplomatic efforts calm energy prices but face huge hurdles

   The 15-point plan now in Iranian hands is, in essence, "a comprehensive 
deal" to reach a ceasefire in the war, according to an Egyptian official 
involved in the mediation efforts.

   In addition to proposing to fully open the Strait of Hormuz, it also 
includes restrictions on Iran's missile program and its arming of armed groups, 
and is being treated as the basis for further negotiations between the nations, 
according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the 
yet-publicized details of the proposal

   Any talks between the United States and Iran would face monumental 
challenges. Many of Washington's shifting objectives, particularly over Iran's 
ballistic missile and nuclear programs, remain difficult to achieve.

   Also, it's not clear who in Iran's government has the authority to negotiate 
-- or would be willing to, as Israel has vowed to continue killing the 
country's leaders.

   Mediators are pushing for a possible in-person talks between the Iranians 
and the Americans, perhaps as soon as Friday in Pakistan, the Egyptian official 
and the two Pakistani officials said.

   However, that would require the Americans to immediately start traveling 
from the U.S. to be there in time. Meanwhile, Iranian officials likely remain 
worried about the Israelis, whose airstrikes in the war have killed many 
official, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

   Iran is also highly suspicious of the U.S., which twice under the Trump 
administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks, including with 
the strikes that started the current war.

   "We have a very catastrophic experience with U.S. diplomacy," Baghaei told 
India Today, adding that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had been in 
contact with Pakistani and other regional diplomats but that "there are no 
talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States."

   China, which sent a special envoy early in the war to push for a diplomatic 
solution, said Wednesday it supports all efforts to de-escalate the tensions 
and start peace talks.

   China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Araghchi in a call Tuesday that all 
parties should "seize every opportunity and window for peace" so peace talks 
can start as soon as possible, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told 
reporters Wednesday in Beijing.

   Zolfaghari said that the U.S. was in no position to negotiate.

   "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."

   Trump has said that special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared 
Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are already 
involved in negotiations.

   Lebanese authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people 
in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.

   Iran's death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. In 
Israel, 16 people have been killed. At least 13 U.S. military members have been 
killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and 
Gulf Arab states.