Iran confirms it is considering a US peace proposal.

WashingtonThe spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, confirmed in an interview with the state agency ISNA that Tehran is reviewing a new peace proposal from the United States. "After concluding the evaluations, Iran will convey its perspective to the Pakistani side," Baghaei stated. In the preceding hours, a text had been circulating, allegedly containing the US proposal, published by the North American outlet "Axios". Iran has dismissed this version of the text, stating it is more of a "wish list" from Washington than a plan with prospects of success. Once again, the picture is blurred by contradictory signals from both sides.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in ChinaThe new diplomatic turn occurs while the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, is in China, where he met with his counterpart, Wang Yi. The Asian giant is one of the countries most affected by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – which has lasted two months – and according to Chinese state agencies, the Chinese minister urged Iranians to end the war. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Beijing to become more involved in the conflict. Next week, Trump will also travel to China to meet with President Xi Jinping. In parallel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will call his partner this Wednesday afternoon to discuss the situation in the region.

The only thing that is clear, for now, is that markets have decided to believe Trump's words again and oil has fallen again. The price of a barrel of crude had shot up again in the wake of Project Liberty and the resumption of hostilities, but this Wednesday morning, shortly after the tycoon's announcement, it was falling again below $100 a barrel.

New twist

The new turn comes after Marco Rubio stated that the White House was focused on Project Liberty and had ended Operation Epic Fury, with which the US began the war against Iran on February 28. Project Liberty, announced last Sunday night, had reactivated attacks in the Gulf again, with a new military escalation between US and Iranian forces at the beginning of the week. On Monday, the US Army's Central Command (Centcom) admitted to intercepting three Iranian missiles against its positions, and announced that it had sunk six Iranian speedboats. Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also reported suffering new bombings from Tehran.

The UAE has borne the brunt of this new episode of crossfire, and on Tuesday they reported new attacks by the ayatollahs again. On Monday, after intercepting at least twelve Iranian missiles and four drones, the Emirati Ministry of Defense issued a statement in which it said it reserved the full right to respond to the attacks as it deemed appropriate. On Monday, it was also known that Israel had sent one of its defense systems to the UAE as reinforcement. This Tuesday night, Iran stated in a statement that it had not attacked the Emirates.

Although missiles had continued to fly over the region in the last few hours, the United States has striven to maintain that the ceasefire remains in effect. Throughout Tuesday, Hegseth, Trump, and Rubio repeated that the truce is still in effect. Regarding when the pause would end, the president cryptically told reporters: "I will let you know."

The abrupt decision to roll back Project Liberty also comes in a particularly delicate context for the White House, with the war now over two months old. Federal law establishes that after sixty days of conflict, the executive needs permission from the legislature; if it does not obtain it, it must withdraw troops from the region. Last week, in the first hearing before legislators since the war began, Hegseth argued that technically only forty days of conflict had passed, because the military pause had already been underway for almost a month. This Tuesday, at the press conference from the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense reiterated that "the clock has been stopped" for a month and urged Tehran to "be prudent."