Iran rejects call for temporary ceasefire

The US and Iran on Monday weighed a framework plan to end their five‑week-old conflict, as Tehran said it wanted a lasting end to the war and pushed back against pressure to swiftly reopen the Strait of Hormuz under a temporary ceasefire.
Iran conveyed its response to the US proposal for ending the war to Pakistan, rejecting a ceasefire and emphasizing the necessity of a permanent end to the war, the official IRNA news agency said on Monday.
Tehran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a “temporary ceasefire”, a senior Iranian official said on Monday after receiving a new proposal from mediators to end the war.
The unnamed official told Reuters that Iran’s leadership is reviewing a plan for an immediate pause in hostilities sent by mediator Pakistan ahead of US President Donald Trump’s Tuesday deadline for strikes on energy infrastructure.
Tehran does not believe that Washington is ready for a permanent ceasefire, however, and will not accept being pressured to accept deadlines and make a decision, the unnamed source said.
Iran conveyed its response to the US proposal for ending the war to Pakistan, rejecting a ceasefire and emphasizing the necessity of a permanent end to the war, the official IRNA news agency said on Monday.
The Iranian response consisted of 10 clauses, including an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, lifting of sanctions, and reconstruction, the agency added.
Trump said on Monday the Tuesday deadline he has set for Iran to make a deal is final, adding that Iran's proposal was significant but not good enough.
"They made a proposal, and it's a significant proposal. It's a significant step. It's not good enough," Trump said of Iran.
"It could end very quickly, the war, if they do what they have to do. They have to do certain things. They know that, they've been negotiating I think in good faith," he said while at an annual White House Easter event.
Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, 

said Iran had formulated its positions and demands in response to the proposals, adding that negotiations were “incompatible with ultimatums and threats to commit war crimes”.
“Iran does not hesitate to clearly express what it considers its legitimate demands and doing so should not be interpreted as a sign of compromise, but rather as a reflection of its confidence in defending its positions,” Baghaei said in a press conference.
He said that Iran would release its response “in due time”.
Iran’s central military command has warned of “much more devastating” retaliation if the US hits civilian targets.
If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the next stages of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be much more devastating and widespread. 
The warning came after Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure, demanding Tehran bow to his demands for a deal to reopen the Gulf to shipping. 
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday Tehran had formulated positions and demands based on its interests and communicated them through intermediaries.
Baghaei told a press conference details of the response would be announced in due time, but added negotiations were “incompatible with ultimatums and threats to commit war crimes.”
Iran will continue the war with the United States and Israel for “as long as the political authorities see fit”, its army spokesman said.
“The enemy must definitely regret it because, after this war, we need to reach a point of security and not witness another war”, Mohammad Akraminia told the ISNA news agency. 
The White House on Monday confirmed there was a deal under consideration for a 45-day ceasefire with Iran, but that President Donald Trump had “not signed off” on the proposal and is continuing the war.
“This is one of many ideas, and POTUS (Trump) has not signed off on it. Operation Epic Fury continues,” a White House official told AFP, adding that the president will speak more on the conflict at a press conference scheduled for 1:00pm (1700 GMT).
The Pakistani-brokered plan emerged from intense overnight contacts and proposes an immediate ceasefire, followed by talks on a broader peace settlement to be concluded within 15 to 20 days, a source aware of the proposals said on Monday.
Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was in contact “all night long” with US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the source said.
Fresh aerial strikes were reported across the region on Monday, more than five weeks since the US and Israel began pounding Iran in a war that has killed thousands and damaged economies by sending oil prices surging.
Iranian state media said the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence chief, Majid Khademi, has died. Israel on Monday claimed responsibility for his death.
A US-Israeli attack hit the data centre at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, damaging infrastructure underpinning the country’s national artificial intelligence platform and thousands of other services, Fars News Agency said on Sunday.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz in a statement issued on Monday threatened to destroy Iran’s infrastructure and hunt down its leaders “one by one”.
Iran said on Monday two of its petrochemical complexes were attacked.
Emergency and firefighting teams brought a blaze under control at the South Pars complex in Asaluyeh, Iran’s National Petrochemical Company said. No casualties were reported.
The complex’s power supply was cut off after two companies supplying it with electricity, water and oxygen were attacked, Tasnim news agency said.
An Israeli attack in mid-March on the South Pars gas field that Iran shares with Qatar prompted an escalation in the war, with Iran striking energy targets across the Middle East.
A fire at the Marvdasht petrochemical complex was controlled after an attack by the US and Israel, state media said.
Iranian weekend strikes on petrochemical facilities and an Israeli-linked vessel in Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE underscored the country’s ability to fight back despite Trump’s repeated claims to have knocked out its missile and drone capabilities.
US forces located on Kuwait’s Bubiyan island were targeted by Iran, the spokesperson of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a video statement shared by state media on Monday.

At least four Israelis were killed in a missile attack on a residential building in Haifa in northern Israel overnight, Israeli emergency service MDA said on Monday, bringing the total number of Israeli civilian fatalities from Iranian and Hezbollah attacks to 23.
Israel has also invaded southern Lebanon and struck Beirut in a fight against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants that has become the most violent spillover of the war on Iran.