‘Five Conditions’: Iran Rejects US Proposal, Sets Terms to End the War

March 25, 2026 News

Iran rejects a US proposal to end the war, saying any ceasefire will come only on its own terms. (Photo: via Al Mayadeen)

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By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Iran rejects the US ceasefire proposal, insisting war will end only on its terms, including guarantees, reparations, and sovereignty.

US Proposal Rejected

Iran has formally rejected a US proposal to end the war, making clear that any ceasefire will take place only on Tehran’s terms.

According to Press TV, citing a senior Iranian political-security official, Tehran “will end the war when it decides to do so,” rejecting any attempt by US President Donald Trump to dictate the timing or framework of a settlement.

The proposal, delivered through regional mediators, was dismissed as detached from battlefield realities and reflective of what Iranian officials described as US overreach despite mounting pressures on Washington and its allies.

‘Escalation Trick’

Iranian officials framed the US proposal not as a diplomatic opening, but as a strategic maneuver.

According to the same Press TV report, Tehran assessed the proposal as a “trick to escalate tensions,” noting that previous US overtures had been followed by military escalation rather than genuine negotiations.

This assessment reflects a broader Iranian position that Washington has repeatedly used diplomacy as cover while advancing military pressure.

Reuters reported that Iranian officials dismissed US proposals as unrealistic, with one senior figure describing Washington as effectively “negotiating with itself.”

Five Conditions

At the center of Tehran’s position is a structured set of conditions that must be met before any ceasefire is considered.

Press TV outlined five key demands that define Iran’s framework for ending the war.

• The first condition is a complete halt to all military aggression, including airstrikes, targeted assassinations, and covert operations.
• Second, Iran demands firm and verifiable guarantees that such attacks will not be repeated.
• Third, Tehran is insisting on reparations, including compensation for damages caused by the war and clarity on how those payments would be enforced.
• Fourth, Iran requires that any ceasefire apply across all fronts of the conflict, including allied resistance groups operating throughout the region.
• Fifth, Iran demands recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz as a “natural and legal right.”

Iran has made clear that military operations will continue until these conditions are met.

According to Press TV, the senior official emphasized that Tehran remains prepared to “continue defending itself and delivering heavy blows to the enemy.”

Iran has also informed mediators that no negotiations will take place before these conditions are accepted, stating that talks cannot proceed under ongoing attacks.

US Conditions

Alongside its rejection, Iranian and international reporting indicate that Washington had advanced a broader framework of demands, widely described as reaching up to 15 points.

While no single verified list has been publicly confirmed in full, several core elements have been consistently reported across sources such as Reuters and The Guardian.

These include:

• Halt to Iran’s missile and drone attacks.
• Restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program.
• Limits on nuclear enrichment activities.
• Reduction of Iran’s regional military role.
• Security guarantees for Israel.
• Monitoring and verification mechanisms.
• Commitments to future negotiations under US terms.

Iranian officials have rejected these proposals, describing them as incompatible with Iran’s sovereignty and reflective of US strategic priorities rather than a negotiated settlement.

Don Trump and the Mafioso Style in World Politics

Don Trump and the Mafioso Style in World Politics

Trump’s style in world politics looks very much like a mafioso’s conduct on the global arena. 

Don Trump and the Mafioso Style in World Politics

Gilbert Achcar

3/18/2026

 

reprinted from Gilbert Achar's Blog

By a remarkable historical coincidence, the name of the present US president can intuitively be abridged as Don, which is the equivalent of Sir or Lord, historically used in Sicily in designating powerful landowners and later applied to Mafia bosses. This designation became widely known in the United States and globally with Francis Ford Coppola’s film series The Godfather, featuring Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro in the role of Don Corleone.

The fact is that Donald Trump’s style in world politics looks very much like a mafioso’s conduct on the global arena. Here are some of the Mafia methods applied by Don Trump on the world scene:

 

1. Extortion and racketeering: That’s the most common method practiced by the Mafia.

 

Don Trump’s use of tariffs is the exact equivalent of the mafiosi’s practice of racketeering. He has shaken down several countries in forcing them to pledge an increase of their imports from and investment into the United States, along with other concessions. He has been consistently and persistently threatening other countries with tariffs in seeking to impose his will, be it for commercial purposes or even political purposes, such as trying to bail out from jail his fellow neofascist, Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro. Since tariffs are eventually paid by the US consumer, Don Trump’s use of tariffs is also a way of extorting money from the American people – a sort of regressive tax – in order to fund the considerable deficit resulting from the combination of his huge tax gifts to the rich with ever increasing military expenditure.

 

Another element of racketeering is extortion as a prize for extending protection. This is very typically the way in which the United States has been taking advantage of the Gulf oil monarchies, extracting all sorts of profits from them in exchange for providing them with military protection against neighboring Iran and its regional allies, such as the Houthis in North Yemen. Don Trump’s ongoing onslaught on Iran is the culmination of the fulfilment of the US role as protector of the Gulf monarchies, starting with the richest of them, the Saudi kingdom.

 

2. Violence, Intimidation and Outsourcing:

To be sure, Don Trump’s practice of extortion is not restricted to economic coercion. He has also plainly used the threat of violence in exerting pressure on various countries – including US allies such as NATO member Denmark that he tried to intimidate into handing the United States control over Greenland. Most importantly, Don Trump did resort to violence in imposing Washington’s will on other states.

Unlike previous US presidents, he makes no pretense of promoting democracy worldwide: that’s certainly not part of the mafioso worldview. Instead, he seeks to coerce into submission to Washington’s will and interests refractory regimes as they stand. This is what he has done in Venezuela, abducting the country’s president in typical mafiosi fashion and forcing its government to collaborate with the United States on Washington’s terms. He is strangulating Cuba in seeking to force the island to relinquish its political independence. Don Trump is presently busy bombarding Iran in trying to compel this country’s regime to abide by his will. The present onslaught started with a “kiss of death” by the Don, marking Iran’s Supreme Leader for execution. In typical Mafia custom, he outsourced this assassination to a lesser criminal group, the Israeli governmental mafia headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and associated them as a junior partner in his war.

 

3. Hierarchical Families or Clans: Don Trump’s reigns over a whole set of underbosses and consiglieri (advisers).

 

On top, the Trump family is the equivalent of the Corleone clan headed by the Don as Godfather. His sons run the Trump Organization, whose name befits well Mafia-like practices. They have been massively profiting from the Don’s extortionary methods, making juicy business deals with foreign mafias – the Gulf oil monarchies in particular – and have engaged, as well as the Don himself, in gambling, which is another typical activity of the Mafia – most prominently in the field of cryptocurrencies.

 

It is well-known that Don Trump had significant interests in the gambling business from the 1980s to the 2000s, through the development, ownership, and operation of multiple casinos in Atlantic City and other locations. His gaming ventures were characterized by high-profile ownership, immense debt, and multiple bankruptcies, while he remained in management roles. Despite the failure of his gambling businesses to turn a profit, Trump benefited through high-interest junk bonds, taking cash upfront for construction, management fees, and using company funds for personal expenditures like his yacht (the “Trump Princess”).

 

The Kushners and Witkoffs are the most prominent underbosses’ families, fully benefitting from the Don’s mafioso methods. Then there are the Dons of the Tech Mafias, who have endorsed Don Trump – particularly the two Dons of the former PayPal Mafia, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. Their alliance with Don Trump is embodied by JD Vance who was groomed by Thiel and strongly recommended to Trump as vice-president, with a view to getting him to be the next MAGA candidate to the White House. As for Don Trump’s consiglieri, they are many, but the most sinister among them, far and away, is certainly Stephen Miller

In sum, there has never been a time before Don Trump when a president has so closely matched the mafioso pattern at the White House. Richard Nixon was almost an altar boy in comparison. Don Trump represents the triumph of the mafioso style in American and global politics. And like in the famous bookthat inspired the title of this article, Trump’s style is deeply paranoid indeed, involving a typically irrational strain in political discourse characterized by extravagant exaggeration, conspiracy theories, and trumped-up charges hurled at all rivals – a type of paranoia very much befitting a Mafia Don.

 

Opinion: It appears Mossad has activated "Iranian sleeper cells" to pull Europe into war

Originally published by Council Estate Media

Possible Iran Link say UK police. Source.  * Image not with original post.

It appears Mossad has activated "Iranian sleeper cells" to pull Europe into war

Just as things start getting desperate for Israel, we are led to believe that Iran has done the one thing that might give Israel a chance of winning this war: launch attacks on Europe.

Overnight, a new terrorist organisation has cropped up called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya (HAYI), which roughly translates to the “Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand”. The group has claimed responsibility for targeting Jewish institutions and communities in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom in a series of attacks that Israel has spent months telling us were coming… 

We are now told by security experts who knew nothing about this group until yesterday that the IRGC Quds Force is likely behind it (due to logo similarities). Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli have described HAYI as “a jihadi group tied to an Iranian proxy”. However, all might not be as it seems: linguistic errors in Arabic materials and inconsistencies in online accounts suggest this group was hastily cobbled together. 

Laughably, the word “Arabic” is misspelt on the inscription beneath the logo in the group’s branded material, and the name of the group’s Arabic channel is misspelt in Arabic. Videos and text that the group have released are filled with Arabic grammatical, spelling, and phrasing mistakes—the likes of which you would expect from someone who doesn’t speak the language.

Ask yourself why an Islamic terror group would make such basic Arabic linguistic errors. Does that not strike you as weird? Muslims take their language and faith so seriously that many learn the Qu’ran word for word, but they can’t spell Arabic on their logos? HAYI had no public footprint before 9 March 2026, but now we’re supposed to accept everything we’re told about them at face value—and be afraid of Iran.

Attacking Jewish groups across Europe offers Iran no strategic value, but it does offer Israel propaganda value. We are talking minor property damage and minimal casualties—the type of attacks that drive a narrative that Jews are under attack and westerners must come to their rescue. Why would Iran expend resources doing such a thing?

Let’s take a closer look at those attacks:

• On 9 March, an IED caused minimal structural damage and no injuries outside a synagogue in Liège, Belgium. 

• On 13 March, an arson attack damaged a synagogue in Rotterdam, causing no injuries. 

• On March 14, an IED caused property damage at a Jewish school in Amsterdam, causing no injuries. 

• On 16 March, a blast caused minor property damage at a commercial centre in Amsterdam, but again no injuries. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly glad these attacks are not hurting or killing anyone, but this doesn’t exactly fit the pattern of terrorism, does it?

We’ve just seen an attack on four Jewish ambulances in London and I think everyone’s first reaction was “Wait, we have Jewish ambulances in London?” Anyways, it turns out that funding for replacing two ambulances had been secured weeks before the attack through charitable trusts, and now the prime minister is saying he will replace all four. I’m unclear why we are paying for Jewish ambulances when the NHS has a shortage, but here we are…

As far as I know, the only damage, aside from the burnt ambulances, was a few shattered windows. Police are treating this as an antisemitic hate crime, and assessing the possible Iran link, but not the Israel link. It seems they want to push a narrative rather than assess all possibilities—and while you could argue I am doing the same, I would argue my hypothesis is a damn sight more plausible than theirs. Israel has a history of false flags and a motive to carry out more: it is losing this war and needs help.

If you want to know who is likely behind these attacks, just look at who is talking about them. The Iranians certainly aren’t—they haven’t said a word—but the Israelis won’t shut up! Attacks like this are designed to shape the public consciousness and you don’t achieve that through silence.

The Israeli Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli is pushing the narrative hard:

“The recent events in Europe are not isolated incidents but part of a disturbing pattern of action: Terrorist networks affiliated with the Iranian axis are trying to expand their arena of operation into the cities and Jewish communities of Europe. The message must be clear – Jewish communities are not a legitimate target for threats, and the international community must act resolutely against any entity that attempts to export terrorism and antisemitism beyond the borders of the Middle East.”

It’s been exhausting watching our politicians condemn this recent “outbreak of antisemitism” and pander to Israel when we all know Israel is behind this group, just like it is behind Al Qaida and ISIS: two organisations that conveniently never attack Israel. We are told it’s antisemitic to accuse Israel (a country engaging in both genocide and an illegal war of aggression), but strangely it is not racist to accuse their victim Iran.

It’s important that we start calling out these false flags, otherwise they will only escalate. We have just seen a massive fire at a US oil refinery in Port Arthur, Texas and we don’t know the facts yet, but I struggle to believe this was an accident, given the timing. Could this be the excuse they need for boots on the ground?

Ken Klippenstein. Leaked Document: Iran War Meets Little Brother

Leaked Document: Iran War Meets Little Brother

Info about the war is being censored — with the help of private companies

Ken Klippenstein March 24

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth poses next to Jeff Bezos

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The Pentagon has quietly dictated to spy satellite companies what to say about the Iran war, exercising censorship over what the American public is allowed to know.

Military sources tell me that the level of secrecy surrounding the specifics of the Iran war is unprecedented, with barely any data being released about the level of bombing, the targets being attacked, or the assessed effects. Now the Trump administration is trying to further control what private companies say in a behind-the-scenes effort not been previously reported.

As the American and Israeli bombing of Iran commenced on February 28, the military promptly issued guidance to satellite operators of what “language and terms to avoid” when describing Iranian damage caused at American bases in the Middle East, according to a copy of the guidance leaked to me.

“Avoid language that implies battle damage assessment (BDA) or operational conclusions,” one slide produced by U.S. Space Force says. It goes on to warn against using phrases like “Target destroyed,” “Target eliminated,” and “Structure rendered inoperable.” 

The guidance includes the following examples of what to say and what not to say.

Incorrect Example: “Strike successfully destroyed the facility.”

Correct Example: “Imagery shows the structure largely collapsed with debris covering the building footprint.”

Leaked Space Force guidance

About 100 American companies are licensed by the U.S. government to operate their own reconnaissance satellites, a $6-7 billion a year industry that serves military and commercial customers with everything from methane detection to bomb damage assessments. Most of the revenue of these companies comes from the military services and the federal government. The “big four” — Maxar Intelligence, Planet Labs, BlackSky Technology, and Spire Global — operate some 350 imaging and interception satellites.

While the Pentagon “guidance” to the commercial companies is framed as an advisory, the companies comply because their contracting relationships with the government make them afraid to bite the hand that feeds them. As a result, private companies are increasingly becoming a controlled and auxiliary Little Brother to the U.S. intelligence machine, a trend I reported on last year.

Space Force has issued the guidance I obtained to virtually all commercial satellite companies in the form of written requests, sources say. This includes not just companies in the classified space but even those that work on the collection and dissemination of public or “open source” materials that inform the news media, academia, think tanks, and other groups.

“While there’s a case to be made that they [the companies] should fight it, almost everyone makes the vast majority of their revenue from government contracts in this industry and after Anthropic, nobody is interested in putting up a fight,” a source familiar with the guidance told me. “I think it’s also another layer of trying to make things [about the war] seem less bad than they are.”

Since February, Anthropic has refused to allow its AI model, Claude, to be used for certain missions involving mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. The Pentagon in response has threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the company’s cooperation.

Pentagon pressure has already yielded results.

Planet Labs, one of the largest commercial satellite imaging companies in the world, has blocked public access to high-resolution imagery of the entire Iran war theater by imposing a 96-hour delay on February 28, then extending it to a 14-day blackout on March 10. The company claims the decision was its own, made after consulting military and intelligence experts. 

This kind of soft censorship is not unique to the Trump administration, nor is it a partisan phenomenon. When I first reported on the rise of Little Brother as articulated in a little-noticed intelligence community directive on coordinating with “Non-State Entities,” it was Biden’s Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines who signed it. 

The directive ordered spy agencies to “routinize” and “expand” their partnerships with private companies, and even authorized these relationships in cases of greater “risk” to the government due to security or legal concerns.

Whether it is in artificial intelligence, cyber security, unmanned vehicles, and now remote sensing by satellites, corporations have grown so powerful that they are starting to rival nation states in terms of resources. But Little Brother is happy to cooperate with Big Brother.

Sources: Market caps from Motley Fool (data as of March 23, 2026, citing company earnings filings); GDP figures from IMF World Economic Outlook.

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