Iran military official says renewed war with US ‘likely’

TEHRAN – A senior Iranian military officer said on May 2 that renewed fighting between the US and Iran was “likely”, hours after President Donald Trump said he was “not satisfied” with a new Iranian negotiating proposal.

Iran delivered the draft to mediator Pakistan in the evening on April 30, state media reported without detailing its contents.

The war, launched by the United States and Israel in late February, has been on hold since April 8, with one failed round of peace talks having taken place in Pakistan since then.

“At this moment I’m not satisfied with what they’re offering,” Mr 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”.

On the morning of May 2, Mr Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in the Iranian military’s central command, said “a renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely”, in quotes published by Iran’s Fars news agency.

“Evidence has shown that the United States is not committed to any promises or agreements,” he added.

‘Stuck in purgatory’

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on May 1 that his country had “never shied away from negotiations”, but added it would not accept an “imposition” of peace terms.

The White House has declined to provide details on the latest Iranian proposal, but news site Axios reported that US envoy Steve Witkoff had submitted amendments putting Tehran’s nuclear programme back on the negotiating table.

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

News of the Iranian proposal briefly pushed oil prices down nearly 5 per cent, though they remain about 50 per cent above pre-war levels amid the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the strait since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

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

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

Despite the ceasefire in the Gulf, fighting has continued in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out deadly strikes despite a separate truce with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s health ministry said 13 people were killed in strikes in the south, including in the town of Habboush, where the Israeli military had issued an evacuation warning.

Meanwhile, Washington announced late on May 1 it had approved major arms sales to its allies in the Middle East, including a US$4 billion (S$5.09 billion) Patriot missile deal with Qatar and nearly US$1 billion in precision weapons systems to Israel.

‘Terminated’

In Washington, lawmakers were wrestling with a legal dispute over whether Mr Trump had breached a deadline to seek congressional approval for the war.

Administration officials argue that the ceasefire pauses a 60-day limit, after which congressional authorisation would be required – a claim disputed by opposition Democrats.

Mr Trump faces growing domestic pressure, with inflation rising, no clear victory in sight and mid-term elections approaching.

“There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026,” Mr Trump said in letters to congressional leaders, adding that the hostilities “have terminated”.

In Iran, the war’s economic toll is deepening.

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

The US military says its blockade of Iranian ports has stopped US$6 billion in Iranian oil exports, while inflation in Iran, already high before the war, has surged past 50 per cent.

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

Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on May 1 that “the owners of damaged businesses should avoid, as much as possible, lay-offs and separation of their workforce”.

He also threatened Iran’s enemies with “economic and cultural jihad”. AFP