Iran puts forward its latest peace proposal, according to Iranian state-linked media — BBC News

[0:04] Hello, I'm Lauren Taylor. This is Iran War Today, our daily briefing bringing you up to date with [0:09] all you need to know on day 65 of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. Let's start with some of today's [0:14] key developments. Iran says the U.S. will be forced to choose between an impossible military [0:20] operation or a bad deal, as President Trump indicates plans to reject the latest peace [0:25] offer. The Israeli military issues new evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon for villages beyond [0:31] the area it occupies. The British government announces plans to make it easier for airlines [0:37] to cancel flights if they face fuel shortages because of the war in Iran. And we'll hear from [0:43] someone smuggling Starlink satellite terminals into Iran. We have sent over a dozen and we are actively [0:51] looking for other ways to smuggle in more. Let's start with the situation with Iran and the U.S. [0:59] The intelligence arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard says the United States will be forced to choose [1:04] between an impossible military operation or a bad deal. In a statement, the Iranian Revolutionary [1:11] Guard Corps says the decision-making space for the United States is limited. Donald Trump, though, [1:17] says Iran hasn't yet paid a large enough price as he expects to dismiss their latest peace offer. [1:22] On a post on social media, President Trump wrote, [1:25] I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can't imagine that it would be acceptable [1:31] in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they've done to humanity and the world over the last 47 years. [1:37] Iran's state media is reporting some details of the 14-point peace plan submitted to Pakistan, which is mediating negotiations with the United States. [1:46] Our world news correspondent Joe Inwood has the details. [1:49] Right at the top of this list is a succession of hostilities, an end to the fighting, a permanent end to the fighting. [1:56] They also are asking for compensation for some of the damage that's being done to their country by this war to be paid for by the Americans and presumably by the Israelis as well. [2:06] There has been a huge amount of damage done to the economy and to the infrastructure of Iran, and I think they want some money back for that. [2:13] And when it comes to money, they also want the unfreezing of some of their frozen assets. [2:20] The Americans have frozen many Iranian assets. [2:23] They want that freed up probably to help with the reconstruction effort. [2:27] Also, on the financial side of things, the sanctions that Iran is under has been under for many years. [2:32] They want some easing, some lifting of that to try and improve the overall economic situation. [2:38] On top of that, they have asked for the withdrawal of all US forces from around Iran. [2:44] Now, what we don't know is whether they're kind of reiterating their previous suggestion or demand that American troops withdrew from the entire Middle East. [2:52] That is not going to happen. [2:53] But it could be that what they're referring to here is pulling back from the coast and also the ending of the blockade that the Americans have currently put upon Iranian ports. [3:02] But, of course, the most difficult issue, the most thorny issue, of which there is no mention in the readout that we get from the official agencies, is about Iran's nuclear program. [3:12] Now, they've always insisted that is for civilian purposes, something the Americans and the Israelis very much doubt. [3:19] But they have not mentioned this. We know it's going to be one of the key things for the Americans. [3:24] It is, they say, one of the main reasons that they started this war in the first place. [3:28] And so, I think whatever is in these proposals, there will be very, very difficult negotiations ahead, if those negotiations even start. [3:36] One of the points in that peace plan is ending the fighting in Lebanon. [3:41] But strikes have continued despite there being a ceasefire. [3:44] And now the Israeli military has issued an urgent evacuation warning. [3:48] The warning covers more than ten villages and towns, including several in the district of Nabatir, [3:53] which lies north of the Litani River, south of which Israel has stationed troops. [3:58] The Israeli military said anyone near Hezbollah facilities would be at risk. [4:02] Let's go blind to Jerusalem now and speak to our correspondent Weirah Davis. [4:06] Weirah, what more do we know about this evacuation order? [4:08] Yeah, it's quite worrying, I think, because it's a further indication that the peace deal between the Lebanese government and Israel is only hanging by a thread. [4:18] Of course, Hezbollah aren't part of that ceasefire agreement, which has been in place since the middle of last month. [4:24] And that is part of the problem. [4:26] Under the ceasefire agreement, it's signed with the Lebanese. [4:29] Israel says it still has the right to attack Hezbollah positions from where it says Hezbollah is firing rockets towards northern Israel. [4:37] And in that sense, Israel continues to attack towns and villages in southern Lebanon. [4:41] But as you said, many of these targets now, many of these areas where they issued evacuation orders are well north of an evacuation zone that is about 10 kilometers or six miles wide. [4:53] That area continues to be occupied by Israeli soldiers after the invasion, which followed the start of this war. [5:00] But Israel is continuing to target many towns and cities north of that area, which is putting the ceasefire agreement under considerable strain. [5:08] We've heard that since Friday about 30 people at least have been killed and many, according to the Lebanese government, many strikes taking place in areas where there had not been an Israeli evacuation order. [5:21] So a very difficult situation on the ground. Hezbollah is certainly continuing to attack Israeli military operations and positions inside that southern exclusion zone using these very low cost, but high capability fiber optic drones. [5:36] The kind of thing that many of us would have seen used in Ukraine. And that is is causing a problem for the Israeli army. [5:42] But it's a very difficult situation on the ground. Israel is exercising what it says as its right to attack imminent threats to its soldiers. [5:50] And the ceasefire, many people say, is a ceasefire in name only. [5:54] Weira Davis, thank you very much indeed. One of the big impacts we're seeing from the war in the Middle East is a rise in jet fuel prices. [6:03] It's due to a blockade of a vital shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz, meaning the transportation of fuel across the Middle East has slowed. [6:10] Here in the UK, the government has announced new contingency plans in case there's a jet fuel shortage this summer. [6:16] Our business correspondent Mark Ashdown has all the details. [6:19] Airports operate at near full capacity, so the smooth running of takeoff and landing slots is crucial. [6:26] But because of this current squeeze on jet fuel supplies, because of the conflict in the Middle East, there is concern that we could be in for a summer of last minute cancellations and misery for passengers. [6:38] Now it works like this. Airlines have slots and they closely guard them because they have to operate them at least 80% of the time. [6:46] If they don't, they risk losing that slot to arrival. So sometimes they'll operate a flight that's not full just to keep that slot. [6:54] Now what's happening now is the government's brought in new rules, meaning they can temporarily hand back a slot. [6:59] So for example, if they fly to Ibiza six times a day, they could only fly four times potentially, making sure those flights are full. [7:07] And saving fuel in the process without the risk of losing that slot. [7:12] Now they would have to give passengers at least two weeks notice of any changes. [7:16] And the government hopes this will cut down on the possibility of people turning up at the airport and finding their flight cancelled. [7:23] Now the airlines have welcomed it. They've been saying there's no current shortage of jet fuel. [7:29] But of course there's concern the longer this goes on, that could impact their ability to operate flights. [7:34] And of course the UK does import 65% of its jet fuel. Some is brought in from America, but lots of it from the Middle East as well. [7:43] There are refineries here. There's currently four of them. There were six but too close. [7:47] They've been asked to maximise production for the time being. [7:51] And there's a possibility too that the rules may be relaxed further to allow airlines to bring in some lower grade jet fuel from America to help cope with the difficulty of supplies. [8:03] There's a cautionary tale really out in America. A budget airline spirit went bust just on Friday. [8:09] The last straw really was the huge soaring costs of jet fuel. And the hope is that will prove to be the exception. [8:15] And because of these changes to the rules, we will get a smooth summer of travel. [8:21] Getting information out of Iran can be difficult because of an internet blackout in the country. [8:25] But the BBC has learnt that a network of Iranians are smuggling Starlink satellite terminals into the country. [8:32] The satellite technology owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX is helping people connect to the internet [8:37] and has become the most widely used way of bypassing the shutdown. [8:41] The BBC has spoken to one man who is smuggling the technology into Iran. [8:45] His name has been changed to protect his identity. [8:48] I'm not going to give you the exact number, but we have sent over a dozen. [8:53] And we are actively looking for other ways to smuggle in more. [8:57] I am smuggling Starlink to fight the internet blackout. [9:02] The Iranian regime has proven that during the shutdown they can kill. [9:09] It is crucial for Iranians to be able to portray the real picture of the situation on the ground. [9:16] With me is Yavash Adalan, senior reporter for BBC Persian. [9:20] And they are the Persian language service of BBC News used by many people in Iran, [9:24] despite being blocked and routinely jammed by the Iranian authorities. [9:27] So how does BBC Persian and people like you get information out of Iran at the moment? [9:32] Well, our Instagram followers are 23 million. [9:35] That's a huge number. [9:37] That's almost a quarter of Iran's population who use BBC Persian account on Instagram. [9:44] The internet disconnectivity in Iran is in its 65th day. [9:48] So that's a record breaker. [9:50] But still during this time there are different ways Iranians can connect to the outside world. [9:55] Some of them use domestic applications and then someone from outside the country downloads those domestic applications [10:03] and manages to keep in touch with their family members. [10:06] But that, you know, has some security concerns. [10:08] So not everyone outside feels comfortable about accessing them. [10:13] There are also a lot of people, sometimes there are moments of connectivity through which Iranians, [10:18] a lot of Iranians take advantage and they send messages abroad as well. [10:23] And now we have a system of multi-layered, multi-tiered internet access where if you pay some money [10:29] you can get access through your mobile phone to the world wide web. [10:34] Or if the government trusts someone, some of those people who push the state narrative, [10:40] officials, academics, activists and so on, NGOs, they provide them with this internet access as well. [10:47] And you mentioned the state narrative there. [10:49] So that segues on to what are they saying at the moment about the peace proposals [10:53] and the two backwards and forwards between the US and Iran? [10:56] Well, this is a timeline. [10:58] So Iran has offered a counterproposal to the US consisting of 14 different articles in that counterproposal. [11:05] The US has received them. That's the counterproposal that President Trump was talking about yesterday [11:11] when he said, I haven't read through it, but I probably won't accept it, something like that. [11:15] And then the US has responded with its own proposal. [11:20] And the latest news that we just had, just virtually a few minutes ago, [11:24] was that the Iranians are studying the US's response to its counterproposal. [11:30] Now, in that original proposal that the counterproposal has come in, [11:35] there were some quite big areas that looked like they wouldn't be acceptable to the US. [11:40] Do you think those have been put in there deliberately so that they can then say, [11:43] well, we won't do this, but we will do that, to give them some room for manoeuvre, [11:46] to have a way of bridging things? [11:48] It's very difficult at the moment to compare the original proposal that Iran had two weeks ago [11:53] with this counterproposal now, because all of it has been speculative. [11:56] None of it has been officially confirmed. [11:58] No government body has actually said what is in the proposal. [12:02] We're just getting media reports, little pieces in there, [12:05] and we're putting the pieces together. [12:07] And it seems like Iran has somewhat softened its stance [12:11] in this second counterproposal that it has offered in terms of its nuclear program. [12:16] But what still Iran wants, the structure of that proposal, [12:20] is that things come in phases. [12:22] So the first phase is to open those waterways, the naval blockade, [12:26] and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. [12:30] Once that is, you know, done, and the US provides enough guarantees to Iran [12:35] that it will not attack it during the talks like it did in the previous two instances last year, [12:41] then they can move on to discussing the bigger issues pertaining to the relations between the two countries, [12:48] including the nuclear issue. [12:50] And it's at that point which it is being said, reportedly, [12:53] that Iran has made some concessions in terms of how long it's prepared to freeze nuclear enrichment. [13:00] The US wanted a period of 20 years. [13:03] Iran was saying five. [13:04] Some unconfirmed media reports say that Iran has now accepted a 15-year nuclear freeze. [13:10] Siavash Adnan, thank you very much indeed for all that insight. [13:13] Thank you. [13:15] And whether you're joining us on YouTube, TikTok, sounds, radio or TV, [13:18] thanks for your time. [13:19] We'll be back at the same time tomorrow with the Iran War Today.