On March 25, 2026, details emerged of a US 15-point peace plan to end the war with Iran, which Tehran immediately rejected as "excessive, unrealistic and unreasonable." The plan -- delivered through intermediaries including Pakistan -- represented the Trump administration's first comprehensive diplomatic proposal since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28, but its maximalist demands ensured rejection before serious negotiations could begin.
The 15-point plan demanded: dismantling nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow; a permanent commitment not to develop nuclear weapons; immediate transfer and down-blending of all uranium stockpiles to 3.67%; complete IAEA monitoring access; an end to domestic enrichment; limits on the range and number of ballistic missiles; cessation of support for regional armed groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthis; a halt to strikes on energy infrastructure; a 30-day ceasefire; and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. In exchange, the US offered sanctions relief (limited to nuclear-related sanctions, not broader human rights sanctions), removal of the UN snapback mechanism, and support for electricity generation at Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei dismissed the plan publicly, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied that negotiations were taking place, stating that US communications via mediators "does not mean negotiations." Iran issued its own five-point counterproposal demanding: an end to all US and Israeli attacks on Iran and allied forces in Lebanon and Iraq; mechanisms to prevent resumption of war; compensation for war damage; international recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz; and -- critically -- that Lebanon be included in any ceasefire agreement.
The insistence on linking Lebanon to Iran ceasefire terms reflected Tehran's strategic calculation that the parallel Israeli ground invasion of southern Lebanon gave Iran leverage, and that abandoning Hezbollah would be both a strategic and ideological betrayal. The gap between the two positions was vast: the US demanded effective disarmament, while Iran demanded an end to what it characterized as aggression plus reparations. The plan's structure -- requiring Iran to act first with only promises of future relief -- read to Tehran as an ultimatum dressed as diplomacy. The White House downplayed Iran's rejection, but the episode exposed the administration's lack of a realistic diplomatic strategy, having launched a war with no plausible path to the comprehensive settlement it was now demanding.