3 min readMar 27, 2026 06:00 AM IST First published on: Mar 27, 2026 at 06:00 AM ISTHIS deadline looming, US President Donald Trump has submitted a 15-point plan to end the war in West Asia, said to have been delivered to Iran via Pakistan. Not surprisingly, officials in Iran have rejected it, submitting a counter-proposal of their own. Yet the fact that both sides appear to have established a channel of communication, amid the five-day “pause”, could be the starting point of a much-needed diplomatic process. That could be clutching at straws given Trump’s bellicose “get serious” message to Iran Thursday and orders to deploy troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the region. Trump insists he is engaging with “the right people” in Iran, while Iranian leaders say the US is “negotiating with itself”, and it is still unclear who is calling the shots in Iran. Since his father’s killing, Mojtaba Khamenei has been heard but not seen.While the details of the plan are not yet public, its broad contours suggest a list of maximalist demands — particularly regarding Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and its nuclear weapons programme. More consequential, for now, is Trump’s claim that his regime-change objective has been accomplished — this may not describe the reality on the ground, but it creates political space for a negotiated exit. The key to any diplomatic off-ramp, however, will be the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s chokehold has strained global supply chains, driving up energy costs. Tehran’s counter-proposal includes the demand for international recognition of Iran’s “sovereign right to exercise authority over the Strait of Hormuz”, while Trump demands that it be fully reopened. Resolving this impasse is essential. Without a consensus, there can be no durable framework for a long-term agreement.AdvertisementWhat is required for talks to move forward is an immediate ceasefire. In this, a critical factor, and hurdle, is Israel. As the prospect of US-Iran engagement grows, Israel has intensified its strikes on Iran. It announced Thursday that it has killed the Iran Navy chief behind the Hormuz blockade and has escalated operations in southern Lebanon as part of its campaign against Hezbollah. In the past, Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to derail US-Iran diplomacy to further his own interests. For Washington, therefore, advancing a proposal for the endgame is not enough. It also has to convince Iran — and Israel, too — that the plan is not a smokescreen for the next phase of the military campaign. To expect Tehran to consider any peace plan as missiles rain down and its leaders are killed is to expect the near-impossible. A ceasefire, therefore, is the best next step but given how Trump is shooting his mouth off trashing Iran and its leaders, that seems distant.