US President Donald Trump on Sunday accused Iran of "playing games" and laughing at America for decades, but said it soon would be made to stop -- without commenting directly on reports of Tehran's response to Washington's latest peace proposal.
"Iran has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years (DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!)," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
He also accused Tehran of "laughing at our now GREAT AGAIN Country" but added: "They will be laughing no longer!"
Trump's remarks come hours after Iran sent its response to the latest US ceasefire proposal via Pakistani mediators and wanted negotiations to focus on permanently ending the war, Iran’s state-run media said Sunday. Pakistan confirmed receiving it.
Iran seeks to end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, and to ensure the security of shipping, its state TV said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: "We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat."
Washington’s latest proposal addressed a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and roll back Iran’s nuclear program, an issue that Tehran would rather discuss later.
The White House had no immediate comment about Iran’s reply. President Donald Trump is giving diplomacy “every chance we possibly can before going back to hostilities,” the US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told ABC.
Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard publicly since the war began, “issued new and decisive directives for the continuation of operations and the powerful confrontation with the enemies” while meeting with the head of the joint military command, the state broadcaster reported, with no details.
(With inputs from AFP and AP)