US sends peace plan to Iran

WashingtonThe United States has sent a peace plan to Iran as it increases its military presence in the Middle East and Friday approaches, the date on which the pause in attacks announced by Donald Trump expires. This truce, however, has not been implemented because Israel continues to bomb Tehran. According to reports... New York Times And CBS reports that the document has been delivered to the Iranians through one of the mediating countries: Pakistan. One detail stands out: Israel's absence from the initial offer. It is known that the proposal was made by Washington, but the war was started by Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Since the Israeli attack on the South Pars gas field, the disagreements between the two partners on how to proceed with the conflict have become increasingly visible.

According to the Israeli television network Channel 12, the plan includes the dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program, an end to Tehran's support for extremist groups, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. At the moment, it remains unclear whether the ayatollahs will be willing to accept it. Meanwhile, Israel views the move with suspicion and distrusts its ally. Israeli government sources told Axios that Netanyahu is concerned that Trump might reach an agreement with the Iranians that doesn't include significant concessions and limits Tel Aviv's ability to continue attacking them. This position is very similar to the one Netanyahu held during his brief visit to Washington shortly before the war broke out. The Israeli prime minister traveled to the White House after Trump expressed optimism about the negotiations with the Iranians regarding the nuclear program. Netanyahu demanded military action against Tehran from the Republican president and insisted that the agreement not be limited to the nuclear issue: one of the Israelis' top priorities is limiting Iran's ballistic missile capabilities. It's worth noting that the points known so far either aim to untangle the chaos generated by the conflict—reopening the Strait of Hormuz—or had already been achieved previously. The premise behind the dismantling of this new plan is very similar to Iran's commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons, a commitment included in the 2015 nuclear agreement, from which it withdrew during Trump's first presidency. Iran has not yet commented on the offer. In recent days, it has been denying Trump's claims about the existence of any negotiations. In fact, just hours after the existence of this new offer became public, the ayatollahs launched a new wave of attacks against Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. On Tuesday morning, before the new diplomatic move was made public, Trump reiterated that contacts with Iran were ongoing and that the Iranians wanted to reach "a deal." The president even asserted that a "regime change" had taken place in the country. "We've truly had a regime change. This is a regime change because the leaders are all different. I think we can say that this is a regime change," he said from the Oval Office.

The peace proposal also comes as it is about to be fulfilled the fourth week of the war, by which time the conflict should already be resolved, according to Trump. When launching the military campaign, the president predicted the operations would last about "four or five weeks."

The diplomatic gesture comes the day after Trump postponed the deadline of his ultimatum to attack Iranian power plants if Tehran did not immediately open the Strait of Hormuz. Initially, the president gave Iran 48 hours to unblock the strait, but in a new twist, he extended his deadline to this Friday. The extra time also gave more breathing room to the nascent diplomatic contacts between Washington and the Iranians, developed through a series of mediating countries, including Pakistan and Turkey.

More US troops

Trump isn't just sending peace doves to the region: he's also sending more troops. The Pentagon has mobilized an elite paratrooper unit, the 82nd Airborne Division, whose soldiers are ready to deploy with just 18 hours' notice. The unit specializes in diverse tasks such as taking control of critical infrastructure or carrying out emergency evacuations. It already... days that that army unit was under the radar After the abrupt cancellation of a planned exercise at Fort Bragg earlier this month, the suspension raised concerns about the possibility of a troop deployment on the ground. The US president stated last Thursday that he would not send troops to the ground, but the trickle of more personnel to the Middle East has not stopped. It is still unknown when the 82nd Division will arrive, but approximately 2,000 troops are expected to be deployed to the region.marine along with the amphibious assault shipUSS TripolioThe amphibious landing shipUSS New OrleansThey have also set course for the area. Likewise, the Pentagon has ordered the mobilization of another unit ofmarine: the 11th expeditionary unit, which is on board the amphibious group led by the shipUSS BoxerHowever, the group will not be leaving for a few weeks and will not arrive in the region until later.