Washington (United States) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Friday he was “not satisfied” with a new Iranian negotiating proposal, as peace talks remain frozen despite a weeks-long ceasefire.

Iran delivered the proposal text to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, the IRNA news agency reported, without detailing its contents.

“At this moment I’m not satisfied with what they’re offering,” Trump told reporters, blaming stalled talks on “tremendous discord” within Iran’s leadership.

“Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever – or do we want to try and make a deal?” he added, saying he would “prefer not” to take the first option “on a human basis”.

The war, launched by the United States and Israel with surprise strikes on February 28, has been on hold since April 8, with only one failed round of direct talks since.

Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertilizer, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Despite the stalemate, the ceasefire has held.

On Friday, Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said his country had “never shied away from negotiations,” but added it would not accept “imposition” while seeking to avoid renewed conflict.

- ‘Stuck in purgatory’ -

The White House has declined to provide details on the proposal, but news site Axios reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted amendments reintroducing Tehran’s nuclear programme into talks.

The changes reportedly include demands that Iran not move enriched uranium from bombed sites or resume activity there during negotiations.

News of the Iranian proposal briefly pushed oil prices down nearly five percent, though they remain about 50 percent above prewar levels amid the ongoing closure of Hormuz.

An EU official said foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke with Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi on efforts to reopen the strait.

Tehran resident Amir told Paris-based AFP journalists the stalemate “feels like we are stuck in purgatory” but expressed little hope for the proposal.

“This is all to waste time,” he said, predicting the United States and Israel “will attack again”.

Washington, meanwhile, is grappling with a legal dispute over whether Trump has passed a deadline to seek congressional approval for the war.

Officials argue that a ceasefire pauses the 60-day clock requiring congressional authorization – a claim disputed by opposition Democrats.

Trump echoed the administration’s rationale, saying the United States was “in the midst of a big victory”.

Trump faces growing domestic pressure, with inflation rising, no clear victory in sight and midterm elections approaching.

Fourteen soldiers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were reportedly killed defusing what the Fars news agency called unexploded cluster bombs and aerial mines in northwestern Zanjan province.

Iran has previously accused the United States and Israel of using cluster munitions, which explode in mid-air and scatter smaller bomblets – some of which fail to explode, creating a danger that can last for decades.

- ‘Nothing left’ -

On top of military strikes, the war’s economic toll on Iran is deepening.

Washington imposed new sanctions on three Iranian currency firms and warned others against paying a “toll” for safe passage through Hormuz.

The US military says its blockade has stopped $6 billion in Iranian oil exports, while inflation has surged past 50 percent.

“For many people, paying rent and even buying food has become difficult, and some have nothing left at all,” 28-year-old Mahyar told an AFP reporter based outside Iran.

Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that Iran had “proven to the world in a military battle with the enemies its progress and excellence” but added that “it must also disappoint and defeat them in the stage of economic and cultural jihad”.

Trump has repeatedly criticized allies for failing to join efforts to reopen Hormuz.

France and Britain have led efforts to assemble a coalition to reopen the strait once peace is secured. But a US official said Washington is launching its own coalition to restart shipping.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the US mission would “complement” European initiatives rather than replace them.

Meanwhile, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier has left the Middle East after taking part in operations against Iran, a US official said Friday, though two other carriers remain.

burs-ft/md