Iran 14-point ceasefire proposal

Iran's 14-point Ceasefire proposal is the most detailed written offer Tehran has placed before Washington in the 65 days since Operation EPIC FURY began on 28 February 2026. It was delivered via Pakistani intermediaries on 1 May 2026 by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, making it Iran's fifth written Ceasefire text and the first to include a structured 30-day negotiation window. The 14 demands include: a permanent end to US military operations against Iran including in Lebanon; a guarantee against future military aggression; withdrawal of US forces from Iran's periphery; termination of the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz; release of frozen Iranian assets; payment of war reparations; lifting of all sanctions; ending fighting in Lebanon; and establishment of a new Hormuz transit governance mechanism. Crucially, the nuclear question is deferred to post-war negotiations — Iran's consistent sequencing demand that Washington has consistently rejected.

Donald Trump verbally rejected the proposal on 2 May 2026 via Truth Social, describing it as not yet at an 'acceptable' standard and warning that strikes could resume. No written counter-text was issued. The pattern mirrors the fate of Iran's four prior proposals: written Iranian text answered by verbal American rejection, with zero signed instruments produced on either side.

Senior Iranian officials described the proposal as aimed at a 'permanent end' of the war, with the Hormuz-first sequencing designed to provide the economic relief that Washington's pressure is intended to secure, while leaving the nuclear file to a later negotiation. This Hormuz-first, nuclear-deferred structure is the 2026 successor to Iran's long-held negotiating posture from the 2015 JCPOA process, in which Iran consistently separated nuclear limits from regional security guarantees. The nuclear deferral remains the single most fundamental gap between the two parties.