President Donald Trump pressed Iran on Wednesday to agree to a peace plan, issuing fresh threats even as an Iranian official dismissed a proposal to end the war as a “list of American wishes.”

The conflicting accounts of diplomacy came a day after Trump abruptly paused a U.S. military operation to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, citing what he said was “great progress” in talks. In public, there was little sign that the weeks of diplomacy aimed at reaching a deal to reopen the vital waterway and end the war were bearing fruit.

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump offered safe passage for vessels through the strait if Iran “agrees to give what has been agreed,” without elaborating. “If they don’t agree, the bombing starts,” he threatened, warning that further U.S. attacks would be “at a much higher level and intensity.”

A spokesperson for Iran’s parliamentary national security committee pushed back on a report in Axios that the United States and Iran were nearing a one-page memorandum to end the war, calling it “more a list of American wishes than a reality.” The spokesperson, Ebrahim Rezaei, warned that Iran was ready to respond if the United States did not grant what he called the “necessary concessions.”

Earlier Wednesday, oil prices fell sharply after Trump announced that the United States was pausing its days-old naval operation to escort ships through the strait.

Markets had been uneasy after a sharp increase in oil prices on Monday, when Trump announced the operation in the crucial oil and gas shipping route, prompting Iran to escalate its threats and putting strain on the already fragile truce.

Trump made the sudden reversal on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. Navy began efforts to guide ships through the vital waterway, which remains effectively closed. Iran has effectively blocked transit through the strait since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February, and the United States imposed a blockade of Iran’s ports after a ceasefire took effect in early April.

Still, the decision helped ease the mood in energy markets, which rose sharply after the war began and have been fluctuating in response to disruptions to energy supplies and its effects on economies around the world. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, was down 2% to about $108 a barrel on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, dropped 2% to around $100 a barrel.

The United States and Iran both claim to have control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran announced a new mechanism on Tuesday to oversee traffic through the channel, Iranian state news reported. These reports did not say how the new system would work and what new rules would be enforced.

Trump said on Tuesday that Iran knew what actions would violate the ceasefire, and he dismissed recent attacks by Iran aimed at American vessels as minor.

More than two months into the Iran war, some 1,600 ships remain stranded in dangerous conditions in the Strait of Hormuz, with roughly 20,000 seafarers on board.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Qasim Nauman and Erica L. Green/Tom Brenner
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