WASHINGTON, United States, May 12, 2026 (AFP) : President Donald Trump warned the ceasefire in the Middle East war was on “life support” Monday after rejecting the latest counteroffer from Iran, which said its military stood ready to respond to any act of aggression.
The president’s angry reaction to Iran’s position — delivered in response to a US proposal — sparked a spike in oil prices and dashed hopes that a deal could be quickly negotiated to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.
After slamming the reply as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” Trump insisted the United States would see a “complete victory” over Iran, adding that the truce which has largely halted fighting in the Gulf for over a month was on its last legs.
“The ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a one percent chance of living,'” he told reporters on Monday.
Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who served as chief negotiator in previous talks with Washington, said shortly afterwards that the country’s armed forces were ready to “teach a lesson for any aggression.”
He added in a later post on X that “there is no alternative” but to accept the points laid out in Iran’s 14-point proposal rejected by Trump.
“Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another. The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it,” he said.
The developments unnerved global energy markets already thrown into chaos by the war and the overlapping blockades imposed by Iran and the US around the Strait of Hormuz — a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments.
“The energy supply shock that began in the first quarter is the largest the world has ever experienced,” the CEO and president of Saudi oil giant Aramco, Amin Nasser, told investors, warning it would take months for markets to rebalance even if the strait opened immediately.
“If its opening is delayed by a few more weeks, then normalisation will last into 2027,” he said.
