White House deems latest Iran proposal insufficient, weighs military action

The White House has determined that Iran's latest proposal shows no substantive progress and cannot serve as a basis for an agreement, with President Trump now considering a resumption of military action, Axios reported on May 18, citing a senior U.S. official. Iran delivered its latest draft agreement to end the war to the U.S. through Pakistan on the night of May 17, but the proposal reportedly contained only symbolic fine-tuning compared to previous versions and included no real concessions on its nuclear program. The senior U.S. official described the current negotiations as being at a very grave stage, stating that if Iran does not change its position, the U.S. will have no choice but to continue negotiations through bombing. Regarding reports from Iranian media that the U.S. had agreed to waive some oil sanctions, the official emphasized that no form of sanctions relief would be granted for free without corresponding measures from Iran.