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Iran shoots down reconnaissance drone as nuclear talks with US collapse

Iranian-made Shahed-136 'Kamikaze' drone flies over the sky of Kermanshah, Iran, March 7, 2024. (AFP Photo)
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Iranian-made Shahed-136 'Kamikaze' drone flies over the sky of Kermanshah, Iran, March 7, 2024. (AFP Photo)
May 11, 2026 01:53 AM GMT+03:00

President Donald Trump flatly rejected Iran's latest response to a U.S. nuclear proposal on Sunday, declaring it "totally unacceptable" and sharpening his warnings against Tehran as back-channel diplomacy through a Pakistani intermediary appeared to hit a wall.

"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives,'" Trump wrote on social media. "I don't like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!"

The blunt dismissal came hours after Trump had already warned that Iran "will be laughing no longer," accusing the country of 47 years of deliberate delay tactics in its dealings with the United States and the wider international community.

US President Donald Trump speaks to journalists as he makes his way to board Marine One before departing from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, May 8, 2026. (AFP Photo)
US President Donald Trump speaks to journalists as he makes his way to board Marine One before departing from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, May 8, 2026. (AFP Photo)

White House had drawn a clear red line

Earlier Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz had signaled the administration's firm stance, telling Fox News Sunday that Washington had laid out a "very clear red line" in its proposal to Tehran. Trump, Waltz said, "has been clear they will never have a nuclear weapon and they cannot hold the world's economies hostage."

The Longstanding U.S. policy that Iran must not be permitted to develop nuclear weapons, a position that has anchored American diplomacy toward Tehran across multiple administrations. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, though Western governments and international inspectors have raised repeated concerns about its scope and intent.

Pakistan's role exposes depth of US-Iran divide

Iran submitted its response through a Pakistani mediator amid absence of direct diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran, severed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and hostage crisis. Third-party intermediaries, including Oman and Qatar, have historically served as conduits between the two governments during periods of negotiation.

Trump's dismissal of the Iranian response as unacceptable comes after the current round of indirect diplomacy has so far failed to bridge the gap between the two sides' positions.

Separately, Trump used the same platform to promote a domestic manufacturing push, touting Executive Order 14392, which he said cracks down on fraudulent "Made in America" labeling and tightens restrictions on federal agencies purchasing foreign goods. The administration said it is closing waiver loopholes that previously allowed government procurement of non-American products even when domestic alternatives exist.

May 11, 2026 01:53 AM GMT+03:00
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