The Trump administration offered a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran, a person briefed on the contours of the proposal said late Tuesday, even as the US military prepared to send at least 1,000 more troops to supplement some 50,000 troops already in the Mideast.

The plan was submitted to Iran by intermediaries from Pakistan, who have offered to host renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Israeli officials, who have been advocating for President Donald Trump to continue the war against Iran, were surprised by the submission of a ceasefire plan, the person said.

Iran has denied that any negotiations are taking place, and Trump delayed his self-imposed deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran’s chokehold on the crucial waterway has snarled international shipping, sent fuel prices skyrocketing and threatened the world economy.

Speaking Tuesday at the White House, Trump said the US is “in negotiations right now” and that the participants included Witkoff, Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s office said he has been discussing the war this week with several counterparts. But Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, denied Trump’s claim of direct talks, and an Iranian military spokesman declared that the fighting would go on.

The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, over 1,000 people in Lebanon, 16 in Israel and 13 US military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced, and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon report “intense gunfire and explosions” as Israeli ground forces fight Hezbollah militants.

Meanwhile, an Iranian military spokesperson mocked US attempts at a ceasefire deal Wednesday, insisting that the Americans were only negotiating with themselves.

Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, made the statement in a prerecorded video aired on state television.

“The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he said. “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could. Don’t dress up your defeat as an agreement. Your era of empty promises has come to an end.”

He added: “Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?”

Zolfaghari’s statement came shortly after the Trump administration sent a 15-point ceasefire plan to Iran through Pakistan.

“Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way: Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you,” he said. “Not now, not ever.”

“Stability in the region is guaranteed by the strong hand of our armed forces. Stability through strength,” Zolfaghari said.

“We state this clearly: Until it is our will, nothing will go back to the way it was. That will only come about when the very thought of acting against the Iranian nation is completely wiped from your corrupt minds.” (AP)