{"id":385458,"date":"2026-04-06T23:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/385458\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T23:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:33:08","slug":"middle-east-on-brink-again-as-iran-rejects-ceasefire-plan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/385458\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East on brink again as Iran rejects ceasefire plan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Middle East is again on the brink after Iran<\/a> on Monday rejected a ceasefire plan aimed at preventing a dangerous escalation threatened by US<\/a> president Donald Trump<\/a> to force Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n

In response, Iran presented a 10-point plan which included an end to the war, the establishment of a mechanism to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, reconstruction in Iran and the lifting of international sanctions. <\/p>\n

Trump claimed Iran\u2019s response to the ceasefire proposal was \u201csignificant, but not good enough\u201d. \u201cThe war can end very quickly if they do the things they need to do,\u201d he said, adding that if he had his choice he would \u201ctake the oil\u201d from Iran. <\/p>\n

Speaking at a White House news conference on Monday night he warned \u201cthe entire country can be taken out in one night and that night might be tomorrow night\u201d.<\/p>\n

He had previously extended his ultimatum to attack Iranian energy facilities, saying this time it was final, setting a new time of 8pm Tuesday, US eastern time (1am Wednesday morning in Ireland) for what he termed \u201cpower plant and bridge day\u201d.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire plan rejected by Tehran was drawn up by Pakistan, Egypt and Turkish mediators. It proposed an immediate 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the strategic waterway while talks continue for 15-20 days on other elements. These elements reportedly include a commitment from Tehran not to pursue nuclear weapons in return for sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets.<\/p>\n

A senior Iranian official said Tehran would not reopen the strait as \u2060part of a temporary ceasefire and would not accept deadlines.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Trump threatens to escalate strikes on Iran unless it opens Strait of HormuzOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Anwar Gargash, an adviser to the United Arab Emirates president, said any settlement must guarantee access through the Strait of Hormuz. He warned a deal that failed to curb Iran\u2019s nuclear programme and its missiles and drones would pave the way for \u201ca more dangerous, more volatile Middle East\u201d. <\/p>\n

European Council<\/a> president Ant\u00f3nio Costa<\/a> warned against strikes on civilian targets, stressing that \u201conly a diplomatic solution\u201d would end the war with Iran. \u201cAny targeting of civilian infrastructure, namely energy facilities, is illegal and unacceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the war rages on. On Monday, day 38 of the conflict, the US and Israel attacked an Iranian petrochemical complex in the southern Fars province. <\/p>\n

Israel<\/a>\u2019s defence minister Israel Katz said in a statement the Israel Defense Forces<\/a> had struck \u201cthe largest petrochemical facility in Iran\u201d. He said that together with another facility hit last week, the two sites \u201care responsible for roughly 85 per cent of Iran\u2019s petrochemical exports and have now been put out of operation\u201d.<\/p>\n

He called the strikes \u201ca significant economic blow\u201d and said the industry was a key source of funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). <\/p>\n

The Israeli air force also attacked dozens of Iranian air force aircraft and helicopters overnight on Sunday at three airfields in Tehran. <\/p>\n

Israel said a strike on Sunday in Tehran killed Asghar Bagheri, the commander of Iran\u2019s Quds Force\u2019s special-operations unit. <\/p>\n

Four bodies were extracted from an apartment block in Israel\u2019s northern city of Haifa, hit by an Iranian cluster rocket on Sunday night. The IRGC claimed to have targeted \u2060a US \u2060amphibious assault ship, forcing it to retreat \u200cinto \u200cthe southern Indian ocean, and a \u200ccontainer \u2060ship, which they said belonged to \u2060Israel. <\/p>\n

The International Atomic \u2060Energy Agency<\/a> \u2060on Monday confirmed recent \u2060impacts of military strikes close to Iran\u2019s \u2060Bushehr nuclear power plant, but said the plant itself had not been damaged. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Middle East is again on the brink after Iran on Monday rejected a ceasefire plan aimed at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[128175,969,96282,42,171545,11829,3410,150432,43,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":{"0":"post-385458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-antonio-costa","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-european-council","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-international-atomic-energy-agency","13":"tag-iran","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-top-news","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-topnews","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}