Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei used his weekly news conference in Tehran on Monday, 11 May 2026, to insist that Iran was engaging seriously in diplomacy while accusing Washington of unreasonable demands in parallel exchanges about ending the war.
The appearance landed hours after U.S. President Donald Trump had already rejected Iran's latest written answer to an American proposal, calling it unacceptable in a short online post, leaving Pakistani-mediated shuttling between capitals under heavy political strain.
The stakes are high because both sides have linked any durable calm to control of maritime traffic, sanctions and assets, and the sequencing of any nuclear discussions, issues that have repeatedly deadlocked envoys even when a fragile pause in fighting has held on land and at sea.
What Baghaei said in Tehran
In remarks carried in English by Iran's Mehr News Agency under a Tehran dateline the same morning, Baghaei said Iran took part in diplomatic processes in good faith but argued the United States had repeatedly shown itself unreliable, citing the 2018 U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA and what he called attacks on diplomacy itself.
The Mehr readout also quoted him as describing Iran's proposal to the United States as reasonable and generous, including an end to the war in the region, lifting what he called a U.S. blockade, releasing frozen Iranian assets, ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and restoring regional security.
Mehr quoted him as saying Iran's immediate priority was to end the war first, with nuclear questions to be handled later: "At the current stage, our focus is on ending the war. Later, regarding the nuclear issue, Iran's materials and matters related to enrichment, we will discuss those issues when the time comes."
Accounts of the same briefing carried by Iran International quoted Baghaei as describing Pakistan as an official mediator between Tehran and Washington and said other countries, including Qatar, were in contact with both sides, while urging European capitals not to be drawn into the conflict through U.S. and Israeli pressure.
Trump's rejection and the '14-point' framing
In a social media post summarized by France 24 in its reporting dated 11 May 2026, Trump wrote that he had read Iran's response to the latest U.S. proposal and called it "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!", offering no line-by-line rebuttal in public at that moment.
France 24 also noted an earlier post in which Trump accused Tehran of "playing games" with the United States for decades, language that accompanied his rejection as envoys continued to trade texts through intermediaries.
Separately, Iran's English-language Tehran Times has published detailed coverage referring to a 14-point Iranian plan in the current crisis; NewsTenet has not independently verified each enumerated clause, and readers should treat numbered checklists in any outlet as provisional until matched to an authenticated diplomatic text.
Pakistan's channel and what comes next
Multiple international accounts, including France 24's same-day summary, describe Iran as having transmitted its latest response toward Washington through Pakistani mediators, a channel Baghaei appeared to bless when he labeled Pakistan an official mediator alongside other regional contacts.
Diplomats and markets will watch whether either capital publishes a full, signed version of its proposal, whether the Hormuz blockade and U.S. interdiction measures ease in tandem with paper agreements, and whether third states can keep a narrow channel open if leaders return to public threats.
Until then, Baghaei's Monday message and Trump's Sunday-night post form the clearest public bookends to another round in which both governments claim seriousness while defining acceptable compromise in sharply different terms.