Trump reviewing Iran's new peace plan but doubts it will be acceptable: ‘They have not yet paid a big enough price…’

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he is studying a fresh peace proposal submitted by Iran, even as he cast doubt on whether the offer would prove sufficient to end a war that has reshaped energy markets and raised alarm across the Middle East.

Trump made the remarks to reporters in Florida before posting on Truth Social that he had been briefed on "the concept of the deal" put forward by Tehran. Within the same hour, he distanced himself from any optimism that a resolution was imminent.

"I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can't imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years," Trump wrote.

The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes in late February, has killed thousands of people across the Middle East, the majority in Iran and Lebanon. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas ordinarily passes, sits at the heart of the diplomatic deadlock.

Iran has demanded that Washington end its naval blockade of Iranian ports before Tehran's leadership will consider reopening the waterway. The White House, in turn, insists the blockade is delivering results by squeezing Iran's economy and cutting off its oil revenue.

"We just had a conversation with Iran. Let's see what happens," Trump told reporters on Friday, adding: "But I would say that I am not happy."

Washington has maintained that its naval operations target Iranian ports and coastline specifically and do not constitute a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz itself, a distinction Tehran and several international observers have disputed.

Iran's foreign minister signalled that diplomacy remained possible, but set conditions. Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was prepared to continue diplomatic efforts provided the Americans abandoned what he described as "excessive demands, threatening rhetoric, and provocative actions." He added that Iran's military remains "fully vigilant."

Recounting what he described as a military-style interception at sea, Trump said: "'Turn your ship around! Evacuate your engine room immediately!' and you see all these guys running out of there."

He continued: "Now they're five miles away, in one shot into the engine room, blew up the engine room, the ship stopped. The ship... they used tugboats, and then we landed on top of it. On top of everything else, we then land on top of it, and we took over the ship, we took over the cargo, took over the oil. It's a very profitable business."

Trump added: "Who would have thought we'd be doing that? We're like pirates. We're sort of like pirates."

He also framed the confrontation in broader terms: "But we're not playing games because you know, for 47 years Iran has been pushing everybody around. They're the bully."

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Sunday that Trump had "openly described the unlawful seizure of Iranian vessels as 'piracy', brazenly boasting that 'we act like pirates'", and called this "no verbal slip" but "a direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international maritime navigation."

Baghaei called on the international community, United Nations member states, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to "firmly reject any normalisation of such blatant violations of international law."

"They have no radar, they have no leaders, actually their leaders are all gone too," he said. "It's part of our problem, we don't know who the hell we're dealing with. They call up 'This is Mohammed so-and-so' and I say 'Are you a leader? We're looking, we're looking for a leader.' It's the only country in the world nobody wants to be a leader."

Analysts from the Eurasia Group pushed back on the White House's framing. "Discord is not the source of the current logjam in talks, as indicated by the Trump administration," wrote Cliff Kupchan and Gregory Brew. "Negotiations are proceeding slowly because Iran's leadership seeks leverage and a better offer from the US."

Global shipping has been compelled to reorganise around the blocked waterway. MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world's largest container carrier, announced plans for a new service linking Europe with Middle Eastern ports via trucking across Saudi Arabia and smaller vessels operating within the Persian Gulf.

An India-linked supertanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas made a rare attempt to transit the Strait of Hormuz, reflecting India's struggle to manage an acute energy crisis brought on by the conflict.

Oil tanker MT Eureka was hijacked off the coast of Shabwa in Yemen by an unidentified armed group, Yemen's Aden-based coast guard reported, with the vessel reportedly heading towards Somalia. The European Union has warned that the Iran conflict is fuelling a broader resurgence in piracy off the Somali coast.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved expedited arms transfers to Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, bypassing the standard congressional review process in order to rush air defence missiles and laser guidance systems to allies in the region.