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middle east
'We Are Focused on Ending the War,' Says Iranian Foreign Ministry After Trump Threatens More Suffering
“We are currently concentrated on ending the war in the region, including in Lebanon,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, who added that "no nuclear negotiations” are happening at this stage.
May 03, 2026
A spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday said the Iranian leadership is reviewing the response issued by the US government over the weekend following a 14-point plan offered by Tehran to bring the unpopular war started by President Donald Trump—now in its third month—to an end.
“The Americans have given their answer to Iran’s 14-point plan to the Pakistani side, and we are currently reviewing it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in an interview with Iranian television.
Baghaei said that the offered framework is strictly focused on ending the immediate hostilities and that the plan contains "absolutely no details regarding the country’s nuclear issues," which he suggested could be discussed at a later time.
“We are not currently engaged in any negotiations over the nuclear issue, and decisions about the future will be made in due course,” he said, even though Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have continued to claim the preventing the Iranians from having a nuclear weapons program—which Tehran denies having and US intelligence assessments have shown does not exist in the manner that US officials describe it—is central to their war aims.
“I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us," Trump said in a social media post on Saturday, "but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity and the World, over the last 47 years."
Despite some reporting examining what's purportedly in the Iranian proposal, the exact details of the 14-point plan remain murky or contentious, depending on who you ask. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, gave his assessment of the current situation on Sunday by saying:
Overall, the Iranians appear to be pursuing a grand bargain—without labeling it as such. This is not merely a proposal aimed at securing a ceasefire, or even a formal end to the current conflict, but rather an attempt to resolve the broader US-Iran antagonism that has persisted for the past 47 years. Implicit in this approach is an expectation that both sides would also restrain their respective regional partners and proxies (Israel, Hezbollah, etc.). In many respects, framing the proposal in this way may align more effectively with Trump’s instincts and psychology.
Meanwhile, a poll out Friday showed that 61% of Americans believe Trump's launching of the war was a mistake, and an even higher number (66%) disapprove of how he's handling the conflict. The same ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll also showed that Trump is now facing the lowest approval ratings of his presidency.
Speaking with Al-Jazeera over the weekend, Parsi explained that Trump's maximalist demands, including the blockade that it has tried to impose on Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, have made negotiations much more difficult:
Trump had time on his side during the ceasefire - until he imposed the blockade per the recommendation of FDD, Israel, and Lindsey Graham. Though the blockade is hurting Iran, it has ended up hurting Trump more, with oil prices now exceeding where they were even during the war… pic.twitter.com/wNSbvjtwSz
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) May 3, 2026
Over the weekend, archival footage from the 1990s shared online by journalist Séamus Malekafzali showed former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami, who was killed by US-Israeli forces last year, talking to the IRGC's staff college about the country's strategy of "asymmetric warfare" if and when it ever faced an opponent that was perceived to have military superiority over it.
Fascinating footage released by the IRGC of a class at the org's staff college in the 90s, where future IRGC leader Hossein Salami teaches a course on asymmetric warfare, teaching officers how to drag out a war with the US by driving up economic costs and political turmoil. pic.twitter.com/et5ZVFIEMi
— Séamus Malekafzali (@Seamus_Malek) May 2, 2026
"The chance of conflict with American forces is very possible," Salami says in the video, according to the English subtitles provided, but the "possibility of victory really exists" if Iranians are able to move the conflict toward "the area of our capabilities into the area of America's weaknesses."
That strategy, as Malekafzali paraphrases it, is "to drag out a war with the US by driving up economic costs and political turmoil," thereby draining the US and sapping its power by inflicting economic pain and political pressure.
As many foreign policy observers have pointed out since Trump launched the war, the strategy of Iran to inflict pain on US allies in the region and economic pain at a global level—such as has been achieved by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz—is very much what Salami describes.
As geopolitical analyst Misbah Qasemi explained, Salami's point was basically this: "Don't match their strength (air power, technology). Attack their weaknesses (economic endurance, political will, domestic opinion). Drag them into your terrain—maritime, cyber, proxy networks—where their advantages neutralize themselves."
This point was made explicitly by Harrison Mann, a fellow with the advocacy group Win Without War, during a Sunday appearance on CNN, where he explained how this plays out in practical terms.
Told @brikeilarcnn: The "good news" is Iran won't become another quagmire because, unlike other countries the US has picked on in the region, Iran can actually inflict pain back on the US. In this case via economic warfare, which is not sustainable for Trump in the long run. pic.twitter.com/lwySB2BLca
— Harrison Mann (@Harrison_J_Mann) May 3, 2026
"Iran can actually inflict pain back on the US," said Mann. "In this case, via economic warfare, which is not sustainable for Trump in the long run."
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'I Don't Hate the Americans': Latest Lego Video Promotes Empathy Between People of US and Iran
'Love for the people, but the system must cease... From Tehran to DC, we're screaming for peace."
May 02, 2026
The creative team behind many of the viral sensations featuring Lego characters and storytelling critical of the war launched by US-Israeli forces against Iran two months ago, posted a new video on Saturday that seeks to forge solidarity between everyday Iranians and Americans suffering from the conflict, and who desperately want to see the fighting brought to an end.
"The Iranian AI Lego team has another video out," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a DC think tank focused on US foreign policy. "The music, lyrics, and imagery are all designed to appeal to disillusioned Americans."
With the video—featuring dramatic scenes from daily life in both Iran and the United States under the shadow of war—the makers behind it, said Parsi, "are doubling down on building bridges between Americans and Iranians while depicting the US government and 'system' as the real enemy."
Touching on themes of shared empathy between people and a political system in the US that insulates the people in power, like US President Donald Trump and lawmakers in Congress, from the will of the voters, the chorus of the song states, "Same sun rising, but we're living in hell; While the leaders are ringing the funeral bell."
'Love for the people, but the system must cease," the chorus continues, "From Tehran to DC, we're screaming for peace."
WOW!
The Iranian AI Lego team has another video out. They are doubling down on building bridges between Americans & Iranians while depicting the US gov and "system" as the real enemy.
The music, lyrics, and imagery are all designed to appeal to disillusioned Americans. pic.twitter.com/9jV6aQgulm
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) May 2, 2026
The lack of peace, the music video argues, is not a reflection of what the American people want but comes from the leaders of the country, motivated by profits, wealth, and geopolitical power.
Your politicians are puppets, strings pulled by their greed,
Selling weapons to anyone, ignoring the need.
They sit in ivory towers, completely out of touch,
Making billions on bombs while the world suffers so much.
They point fingers at us; call us the axis of bad
While they fund the worst violence that the world ever had.
While the imagery shows Iranians suffering in food lines and terrified by US and Israeli bombs being dropped on cities, the message from the Iranian production team behind the video is that the people of Iran do not blame the people of America for the bad behavior of their government.
It's not you, America. It's the ones who lead you.
Listen to my heart...
I don't hate the Americans who are living in fear,
To the working class people trying to make ends meet
To the students protesting, marching out on the street,
We are one and the same, just trying to survive,
Just trying to keep our cultures and our families alive.
I see you standing for justice, fighting the system of hate.
It's your corrupt politicians that are sealing our fate.
I say love to the citizens from coast to coast,
You're victims of the same machine that hurts us the most.
So I wrote this track to try to bridge the divide,
To lay down the weapons, to swallow the pride.
We don't need another missile, no more tactical strikes.
We need conversations on what the future looks like.
My purpose is peace. Let the hostility cease.
Let the eagles and lions finally sit at the feast
From the Persian Gulf straight to the American Shore.
Let our generation be the one that finishes war.
Put the guns in the dirt. Let the healing begin
Because if we keep shooting, then nobody will win.
The "peace" the song concludes, is not for the benefit of "the leaders" waging the war, but for "the innocent souls" harmed by war and the "next in line" in future generations.
The new video on Saturday builds on a previous video from earlier in the week that represented a pivot away from simply ridiculing Trump and slamming the Israelis for their aggression by focusing more on trying to reach the American people who oppose the war and are also being harmed by it.
🎶 Iran’s Latest AI Lego Song Video
The latest entry in Iran’s viral series of AI-generated Lego-style propaganda music videos takes a different tone than its predecessors, with less mockery of Trump and Hegseth, and a direct appeal to ordinary Americans.
The track opens: “I… https://t.co/fqYFEyCZLV pic.twitter.com/sCVE1l0H3l
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 30, 2026
The earlier video released Thursday, noted Drop Site News, invokes "the 1953 CIA-backed coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh," and "references the human cost of sanctions," and "draws a parallel between Iranian and American working people"—all to break through possible barriers of understanding between civilians in the US and those living under the scourge of war in Iran.
"They want us to hate, they want a wall made of glass," the song says. "But we’re both just the victims of a ruling class.”
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Demanding End to Unlawful US-Israeli Attacks, Amnesty Says 'International Community Must Now Draw a Red Line'
"Civilians cannot afford another partial, selective, or short-lived pause that leaves them living in fear and bracing for a repetition of the atrocities they have suffered," said the human rights group's leader.
Apr 29, 2026
A week after blasting US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for carrying out "their conquests for economic and political domination through destruction, suppression, and violence on a massive scale," Amnesty International on Wednesday demanded "an enduring, sustained, and comprehensive regional ceasefire" in the Middle East.
Trump and Netanyahu launched their war on Iran on February 28, with attacks that violated the United Nations Charter's "prohibition on the use of force," noted Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard, "and they triggered unlawful acts by Iranian authorities in retaliation."
"Since then, more than 5,000 people have been killed," she continued, "and millions of civilians across the Middle East have had their lives upended as interrelated conflicts have escalated across the region and civilians and civilian infrastructure have come under attack."
"We are witnessing a continued dangerous erosion of the global international legal order and of respect for international humanitarian law," Callamard warned. She declared that "the international community must now draw a red line: There must be a durable and genuine ceasefire; this requires a full halt in armed hostilities by all parties, across all affected countries."
Amnesty's leader further called for investigations of all crimes and ensuring that "states and individuals are held accountable."
On the first day of the war, the United States' bombings across Iran included an "egregious" strike on a school in Minab that killed at least 155 people, mostly children. As Amnesty pointed out, subsequent US-Israeli attacks have "caused extensive destruction and damage to civilian infrastructure, including power plants, bridges, universities, schools, residential buildings, medical centers, steel factories and petrochemical facilities, endangering the lives and livelihoods of millions and harming the environment."
The strikes on Iran killed at least 3,375 people, and injured another 25,000, while Israel's renewed targeting of Hezbollah in Lebanon killed more than 2,200 and wounded over 7,500. Retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah killed at least 21 civilians in Israel, four Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank, and 29 people across the Gulf, including 13 US service members.
"All parties, including the USA, Israel, Iran, and Hezbollah, have launched unlawful attacks displaying a chilling disregard for human life," Callamard said, "while the US president has issued brazen threats to commit war crimes and even genocide, threatening to wipe out 'a whole civilization' in Iran."
Just hours after Trump's genocidal threat against Iran on April 7, the involved parties reached a ceasefire agreement regarding Iran, which has since been extended. Despite Pakistani negotiators' claims that the initial deal was supposed to include Lebanon, Israel ramped up its attacks on that country, killing and wounding over 1,400 people on April 8 alone.
An existing truce was also ultimately reached for Lebanon. However, like a November 2024 deal related to Hezbollah's support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip suffering a genocidal Israeli assault, and an October 2025 agreement with Hamas in Gaza, Israel has repeatedly violated it.
"The so-called ceasefire agreements reached in Gaza in 2025 and Lebanon in 2024 demonstrably failed to stop Israeli attacks on civilians, with as many as 765 Palestinians killed since then, and near-daily airstrikes and extensive destruction of civilian property in southern Lebanon," said Callamard. Overall, Israel has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023.
"In a region long scarred by conflict, amidst long-standing impunity for crimes under international law, and the constant threat of renewed violence, civilians cannot afford another partial, selective, or short-lived pause that leaves them living in fear and bracing for a repetition of the atrocities they have suffered," she stressed.
Amnesty described the current ceasefire agreements in the region as "fragile, temporary, and in danger of collapse at any moment."
US-Iran talks are "stalled," and Trump has both maintained a naval blockade over Iranian restrictions on ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and signaled that he's willing to resume the war. Just after 4:00 am ET on Wednesday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an image created with artificial intelligence that shows him holding a gun, as bombs fall on what appears to be Iran, and wrote: "Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!"
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said last week that his country is "prepared to resume the war" and is "awaiting a green light from the United States." He pledged a "far more lethal" assault that would "push Iran back into a dark age."
Callamard said that "a ceasefire that is not accompanied by long-term solutions that safeguard human rights and address root causes is little more than a temporary patch over a deep wound. This is particularly true in Iran, where the population remains at risk of further atrocities at the hands of the Islamic Republic authorities, and in Lebanon, where civilians face the prospect of renewed conflict, indefinite displacement of civilians, and destruction of their homes."
Alongside her remarks, Amnesty on Wednesday released a brief detailing how "people in Iran are trapped between unlawful US and Israeli attacks and deadly domestic repression." The publication emphasizes the need for not only a ceasefire, but also "international engagement to actively support Iranian civil society calls for a rights-respecting constitution-making process."
As Callamard summarized: "In a country reeling from the combined impact of devastating US and Israeli bombings and state-orchestrated massacres, the risks of atrocity crimes by the Iranian authorities against the people in Iran remain significant. They face the threat of renewed airstrikes and mass killings if the truce collapses and the prospect of a deadly repression and another severe wave of killings by 'trigger-ready' security forces targeting protesters and dissidents they label as 'enemies.'"
"The international community must recognize that Iran's human rights and impunity crisis, now compounded by the US-Israel[i] unlawful attacks and vast suffering of civilians, requires a dual, people-centered diplomatic response," she said. "This means combining efforts to investigate the UN Charter violations, protect civilians, and uphold international humanitarian law with action to prevent atrocity crimes by the Iranian authorities, and support Iranian civil society's calls for a rights-respecting constitution. It also means establishing pathways for international justice, including the UN Security Council's referral of Iran's situation to the International Criminal Court."
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