{"id":366754,"date":"2026-04-06T20:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/366754\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:30:14","slug":"iran-rejects-latest-ceasefire-proposal-as-trumps-deadline-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/366754\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran rejects latest ceasefire proposal as Trump’s deadline approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran overnight rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal<\/a> and said it wants a permanent end to the war, while US President Donald Trump appeared to widen his threat from civilian targets to the whole Islamic Republic and his ultimatum ticked closer.<\/a><\/p>\n

“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” Trump told a news conference at the White House. He has called his Tuesday 8pm deadline (local time) for Iran to make a deal final.<\/p>\n

The US stepped up threats against Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face a barrage of attacks on civilian targets. “Today will be the largest volume of strikes since day one,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said. “Tomorrow, even more than today.”<\/p>\n

Israel piled on pressure by attacking a major gas field that is Iran’s biggest source of domestic energy.<\/p>\n

Tehran conveyed its 10-point response through Pakistan, a key mediator, including proposals on reconstruction and the lifting of sanctions, Iran\u2019s state-run IRNA news agency said.<\/p>\n

Associated Press correspondent Isabel Debre explains what could happen if Iran agree to a deal to open the crucial strait or make peace. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n

“We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won\u2019t be attacked again,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran\u2019s diplomatic mission in Cairo, told The Associated Press. He said Iran no longer trusts the Trump administration after the US bombed the Islamic Republic twice during previous rounds of talks.<\/p>\n

And yet a regional official involved in talks said efforts had not collapsed. “We are still talking to both sides,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Iranian and Omani officials were working on a mechanism for administrating the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime. Iran\u2019s grip on it has shaken the world economy. Tehran has refused to let US and Israeli vessels through after they started the war on February 28.<\/p>\n

Israel strikes massive gas field<\/p>\n

Israel struck a key petrochemical plant in the South Pars natural gas field and killed two paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commanders, including its intelligence chief.<\/p>\n

The gas field attack aimed at eliminating a major source of revenue for Iran, Israel said. The field, the world\u2019s largest, is shared with Qatar. It is critical to electricity production for Iran’s 93 million population, but the strike appeared to be separate from Trump\u2019s threats.<\/p>\n

An earlier Israeli attack on the field in March prompted Iran to target energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries, a major escalation.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A man works at the site of Sunday’s Israeli strike on a building in Beirut’s Jnah neighborhood, Lebanon. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Trump has warned Iran that the US could set the country “back to the stone ages,” including targeting power plants and bridges.<\/p>\n

Earlier Monday, Trump addressed an Easter event on the White House lawn and suggested that future attacks could go further. “If I had my choice, what would I like to do? Take the oil,\u201d he said, suggesting it could be done easily, but “unfortunately the American people would like to see us come home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if Tuesday at 8pm Washington time was his final deadline, Trump replied simply, “Yeah”.<\/p>\n

Proposal had called for a 45-day ceasefire<\/p>\n

Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators had sent Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff a proposal calling for the ceasefire and the strait’s reopening, two Mideast officials told the AP. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei earlier told journalists that “negotiations are entirely incompatible with ultimatums, crimes and threats of war crimes”.<\/p>\n

Former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayatir urged Arab countries to discourage Trump from striking power plants, warning the entire region would go “dark” if that happens.<\/p>\n

“Any attack on civilian infrastructure is a violation of international law and a very clear one,” United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric later told journalists.<\/p>\n

Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose to US$109 in early Monday spot trading, about 50% higher than when the war started, then wavered. US stocks mostly held steady.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A man sits beside an Iranian flag banner during a government-sponsored protest attended by medical workers against the U.S.-Israeli military campaign outside Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Iran. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Israel threatens to ‘hunt’ Iranian officials<\/p>\n

Explosions boomed in Tehran, and low-flying jets could be heard for hours.<\/p>\n

The head of intelligence for Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Major General Majid Khademi, was killed, according to Iranian state media and Israel\u2019s defense minister. Israel said it also killed the leader of the Revolutionary Guard\u2019s undercover unit in its expeditionary Quds Force, Asghar Bakeri.<\/p>\n

“We will continue to hunt them down one by one,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said of top officials.<\/p>\n

New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who still has not been seen or heard in public, issued a rare statement expressing condolences over the death of the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence chief.<\/p>\n

Israeli strikes have killed dozens of top Iranian leaders, including Khamenei’s father.<\/p>\n

Israel’s military also said it struck three Tehran airports overnight \u2014 Bahram, Mehrabad and Azmayesh \u2014 hitting dozens of helicopters and aircraft it said belonged to the Iranian Air Force.<\/p>\n

A Tehran resident said “constantly there is the sound of bombs, air defences, drones,” speaking on condition of anonymity for her safety. Another resident said he takes sleeping pills to get through nightly bombardments, and said people worry about power, gas and water cuts. “Stop this war,” he said.<\/p>\n

Separately, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia activated air defences to intercept Iranian missiles and drones. Tehran has kept up pressure on Gulf neighbours.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People drive their motorbikes past a billboard that shows a graphic depicting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In Israel, Iranian missiles hit the northern city of Haifa, where four people from one family were found dead in the rubble of a residential building.<\/p>\n

Airstrikes kill more than 25 across Iran<\/p>\n

Smoke rose near Tehran\u2019s Azadi Square after an airstrike hit the grounds of the Sharif University of Technology. Multiple countries have sanctioned the university for its work with the military, particularly on Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program.<\/p>\n

Authorities and Iranian state media reported at least 29 people killed across the country by strikes.<\/p>\n

In Lebanon, where Israel has launched air attacks and a ground invasion that it says target the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia, an airstrike hit an apartment in Ain Saadeh, a predominately Christian town east of Beirut. It killed an official in the Lebanese Forces, a Christian political party strongly opposed to Hezbollah, his wife and another woman.<\/p>\n

More than 1900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.<\/p>\n

More than 1400 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.<\/p>\n

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 US service members have been killed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran overnight rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war, while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,5107,43,64,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-366754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-middle-east","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-north-america","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories","17":"tag-us-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}