Iran and US receive draft proposal for 45-day ceasefire as attacks continue

Burnt-out vehicles in Petah Tikva, Israel, following a barrage of missiles launched from Iran.

Photo: Reuters Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks on Iran on Monday, killing more than 25 people, and Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbours.

US President Donald Trump’s deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz loomed as mediators circulated a new ceasefire proposal.

Explosions rang out 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 air strike hit the grounds of the Sharif University of Technology.

Among those killed in one of the attacks was the head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Major General Majid Khademi, Iranian state media reported without elaborating.

Iranian missiles hit the northern Israeli city of Haifa, where two people were found dead in the rubble of a residential building, and searchers looked for two more.

Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all activated their air defence systems to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and drones, as Tehran kept up the pressure on its Gulf neighbours.

Iran’s regular attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent global energy prices soaring.

Under pressure at home as consumers are growing increasingly concerned, Trump gave Tehran a deadline that expires Monday night, Washington time, saying if no deal was reached to reopen the strait the US would hit Iran’s power plants and other infrastructure targets and set the country “back to the Stone Ages”. “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”.

In an effort to stop the fighting, Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators have sent Iran and the US a proposal calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to give time to try and find a way to end the war, two Mideast officials have told Associated Press.

Iran and the US have not responded to the proposal, sent late Sunday night to both Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.

Trump

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