{"id":201180,"date":"2026-02-21T21:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T21:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-prepares-nuclear-counterproposal-as-us-considers-limited-military-strikes-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T21:34:09","slug":"iran-prepares-nuclear-counterproposal-as-us-considers-limited-military-strikes-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-prepares-nuclear-counterproposal-as-us-considers-limited-military-strikes-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran prepares nuclear counterproposal as US considers limited military strikes – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump orders massive buildup of naval forces in Middle East, leading to fears of an imminent war
Iran\u2019s foreign minister has said he expects to have a draft counterproposal ready within days after nuclear talks with the US this week, while Donald Trump<\/a> said he was considering limited military strikes.
The US president has ordered a massive buildup of naval forces<\/a> in the Middle East, including repositioning aircraft carriers and other warships, leading to fears of an imminent war. But it is not clear if the military movements are intended as an intimidation tactic to put pressure on Iran to make concessions on its nuclear programme.
Two US officials told Reuters that US military<\/a> planning had reached an advanced stage, with options including targeting individuals as part of an attack and even pursuing leadership change in Tehran.
On Thursday, Trump gave Tehran a deadline of 10 to 15 days<\/a> to make a deal to resolve their longstanding nuclear dispute or face \u201creally bad things\u201d.
Asked on Friday if he was considering a limited strike to pressure Iran<\/a> into a deal, Trump told reporters at the White House: \u201cI guess I can say I am considering\u201d it. Asked later about Iran, Trump added: \u201cThey better negotiate a fair deal.\u201d
Tehran began stepping up its nuclear programme\u200b after Trump \u2013 during his first term as president\u200b \u2013 exited an internationally backed deal that had restricted Iran\u2019s programme<\/a>. He disliked the pact, signed by one of his predecessors, Barack Obama, and was encouraged to abandon diplomacy by Iran\u2019s arch-enemy, Israel.
Emboldened by Trump\u2019s support for aggressive action, Israel then led a 12-day war against Iran in June 2025<\/a>, which the US joined \u2013 although the campaign had a questionable impact on Tehran\u2019s long-term nuclear ambitions.
Speaking to US cable news network MS Now<\/a>, Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said there was no \u201cmilitary solution\u201d for Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. \u201cThat has been tested last year. There were huge attacks on our facilities \u2013 they killed and assassinated our scientists \u2013 but they couldn\u2019t kill our nuclear programme,\u201d he said.
Araghchi held <\/strong>indirect discussions in Geneva this week with Trump\u2019s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and said that the sides had reached an understanding on main \u201cguiding principles\u201d<\/a>, but that did not mean a deal was imminent.
Araghchi added he had a draft counterproposal that could be ready \u201cin the next two or three days\u201d for top Iranian officials to review, with more US-Iran talks possible in a week or so.
Trump began threatening strikes again in January as Tehran crushed widespread protests with deadly force.
Referring to the crackdown on Friday, Trump said that \u201c32,000 people were killed over a relatively short period of time\u201d, figures that could not be verified.
\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very, very sad situation,\u201d Trump said, adding that his threats to strike Iran had led the leadership to abandon plans for mass hangings two weeks ago.
\u201cThey were going to hang 837 people. And I gave them the word, if you hang one person, even one person, that you\u2019re going to be hit right then and there,\u201d he said.
The US-based group Hrana, which monitors the human rights situation in Iran, says it has verified 7,114 deaths and has another 11,700 under review.
Hours after Trump\u2019s statements on the death toll, Araghchi said the Iranian government had already published a \u201ccomprehensive list of all 3,117\u201d killed in the unrest, which he referred to as a \u201crecent terrorist operation\u201d.
\u201cIf anyone disputes accuracy of our data, please share any evidence,\u201d he posted on X<\/a>.
UN spokesperson St\u00e9phane Dujarric reiterated concerns about heightened rhetoric and increased military activities in the region.
During the Geneva talks, the US did not seek zero uranium enrichment and Iran did not offer to suspend enrichment, Araghchi told MS Now.
\u201cWhat we are now talking about is how to make sure that Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, including enrichment, is peaceful and would remain peaceful forever,\u201d he said.
Asked about Araghchi\u2019s comments, a White House official said: \u201cThe president has been clear that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them, and that they cannot enrich uranium.\u201d
Reuters contributed to this report<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump orders massive buildup of naval forces in Middle East, leading to fears of an imminent warIran\u2019s foreign minister has said he expects to have a draft counterproposal ready within days after nuclear talks with the US this week, while Donald Trump said he was considering limited military strikes.The US president has ordered a massive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-201180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}