Iran…Trump…Conflict/War…Evening…5/11/2026….Trump… NO Iranian proposed ‘Deal’….

Talks between the United States and Iran stumbled again over the weekend. Replying to an American proposal to reopen the strait and negotiate an end to the war, Iran called for U.S. war reparations, recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and an end to American sanctions, Iran’s state-owned broadcaster reported on Monday.

The Iranian offer is a “piece of garbage,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that Tehran was in the grip of “lunatics.” On Sunday, before any elements of the counterproposal were made public, Mr. Trump dismissed it as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” but did not specify his objections.

Iran’s demands for reparations and sovereignty over the strait would almost certainly be non-starters for the United States, while ending sanctions would be possible only if Iran were willing to make major concessions on its nuclear program.

A week of strikes in the Persian Gulf had already rattled their month-old cease-fire. The truce was intended to provide an opening to negotiate a more comprehensive peace deal and end Iran’s de facto blockade of the strait, a vital waterway for oil and gas shipments.

Small-scale attacks have continued around the strait. On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said it had again been attacked by Iranian drones, and last week American warships fired on military facilities along Iran’s coast.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

• Gas tax relief: Mr. Trump mused on Monday about suspending the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, an action that would require congressional approval.

• Oil prices: Oil prices rose nearly 3 percent and stocks finished slightly higher on Monday as investors reacted to Mr. Trump’s swift rejection of Iran’s response. Oil companies have posted huge profits despite the shipping disruptions; Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, said on Monday that its first-quarter profits had jumped by 25 percent.

• China summit: Mr. Trump hoped to have the conflict resolved by the time he headed to China to meet with Mr. Xi, who is eager to see an end to the fighting in Iran.

The Guardian….

• Donald Trump said Iran’s response to the US peace plan was a “stupid proposal” and “a piece of garbage” that he didn’t finish reading. He still believed a diplomatic solution was possible, he said, but the ceasefire with Iran was “on massive life support”.

• Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said his country’s “armed forces are ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression” and that adversaries “will be surprised”.

• Iran is ready to support Xi Jinping’s four-point plan for the Gulf region, Tehran’s ambassador to Beijing said, ahead of Trump’s visit to China this week for talks with the Chinese leader. Will the US president seek Xi’s help in ending the war with Iran? See analysis here.

• The EU has adopted sanctions on Israeli settlers, with the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas saying: “Extremisms and violence carry consequences.” Israel has condemned the move.

• The UK sanctioned 12 individuals and entities linked to Iran, accusing them of involvement in hostile activity including plotting attacks and providing financial services to groups seeking to destabilise the UK and other countries.

• The Lebanese health ministry updated its death toll to 2,869 people killed in Israeli attacks that began on 2 March, Lebanese state-run media said. UN humanitarian agency chief Tom Fletcher called for a “genuine ceasefire” as Israel continues its relentless assault on Lebanon.

• Israeli lawmakers approved a bill setting up a special tribunal that would try and have the authority to sentence to death Palestinians convicted of taking part in the 2023 Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza.

• Two soldiers photographed desecrating a Christian statue in southern Lebanon were sentenced to military prison, the IDF said. The soldier who stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of Mary received 21 days while the photographer got 14 days.

• Iranian authorities on Monday hanged a postgraduate student from a Tehran university on charges of espionage, with the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan Online website accusing him of collaborating with the CIA and the Mossad. Before his execution Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, rejected the charges as fabricated, a rights group said.

• The United Arab Emirates has carried out military strikes on Iran, the Wall Street Journal has reported sources as saying, “casting the Gulf monarchy as an active combatant in a war in which it has been Iran’s biggest target”.

• The UK and France will host a multinational meeting of defence ministers on Tuesday to discuss plans to restore trade flows through the strait of Hormuz, the British defence ministry said. The meeting will involve 40 countries and comes a day after Iran threatened to strike British and French warships if they tried to help reopen the waterway.

• Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s response to the US peace proposal caused a jump in Brent crude oil by as much as 4% on Monday to $105.50 a barrel, before easing back slightly…..

ISW….Iran Update Special Report, May 11, 2026

1. Iranian leaders are trying to dictate the terms for ending the war, which illustrates that the Iranian regime perceives that it has the upper hand in the conflict at this time. Iran’s proposed terms would require the United States to give up its leverage over Iran before any negotiations could take place, which would likely make it more challenging to extract nuclear concessions from Iran. Iran has not provided any guarantees that it would engage in nuclear negotiations, let alone make nuclear concessions, even if the United States accepted its terms.
2. Commercially available maritime data appears to indicate that some vessels may be complying with Iran’s new transit regulations in the Strait of Hormuz. Recognition of Iran’s “sovereignty” over the strait would fundamentally remake regional and global maritime norms in a manner extremely detrimental to US interests.
3. Iranian Armed Forces General Staff-run media claimed that the Iranian regime has deployed 10,000 first-person view (FPV) drones to the Artesh Ground Forces since the 12-Day War in June 2025. Iranian forces would likely use these drones to try to defend against potential ground operations in Iranian territory.
4. Iran is likely providing Hezbollah and Iranian-backed Iraqi militias with FPV drone technology. Hezbollah and Iraqi militias have consistently conducted attacks targeting Israeli and US forces and assets using FPV drones during the current conflict.