A crew works to clear rubble in the aftermath of a drone attack on a residential building, in which one civilian was killed in eastern Tehran, Iran.

• Iran insists it is not negotiating with the US.
• The US proposed a 15-point plan to end the war.
• Stocks soared, bonds rallied and the dollar languished in hopes of a conflict de-escalation.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there were no negotiations with the United States and that Tehran had not responded to a reported 15-point proposal from Washington to end the war.

“We receive messages from the American side, some direct and some through our friends in the region, and whenever necessary, we respond to these messages,” Araghchi said in an interview with Al Jazeera aired on Wednesday and dubbed into Arabic from Persian.

“There are no grounds for negotiations,” he said, adding, however, that some messages had been exchanged directly with US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Iran has been at war with the US and Israel since 28 February, when strikes killed the country’s supreme leader and triggered a conflict that has spread across the region.

Reuters reported that stocks soared, bonds rallied and the dollar languished on Wednesday, as hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran conflict fuelled the biggest rebound in regional equities in more than three years.

Europe’s STOXX 600 jumped as much as 2.5% in early trade and was last up 2% - still on ‌track for its biggest daily jump in a year - as travel stocks surged 3.4% and aerospace and defence stocks added 3.9%.

READ | ‘We’ll be leaving very soon’: Trump hints at winding down Iran war - even without a deal

German Bund yields slipped five basis points.

Bahrain has circulated a revised UN Security Council draft resolution on protecting commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, retaining language authorising “all necessary means”, but dropping ‌an explicit reference to binding enforcement.

Bahrain’s initial draft, seen ⁠by Reuters and backed by other Gulf Arab states and Washington, explicitly invoked Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows the Security Council to authorise measures ranging from sanctions to military force.

Diplomatic efforts involving Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan have recently been launched to try to end the war.

Last week, two senior Pakistani officials said Islamabad had conveyed to Iran a 15-point plan containing US proposals.

Iranian media had reported that Tehran offered a five-point counterproposal calling for an end to what it described as “aggression” and for guarantees that neither the US nor Israel would resume hostilities.

Araghchi, however, said Tehran “has not offered anything in response” to the US plan and that reported Iranian responses were “merely guesses” from a media outlet.

The war broke out in the middle of negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The conflict echoes a 12-day war in June 2025, when Israel launched strikes days before a planned round of talks between Tehran and Washington.

The US later joined those attacks, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities.

Araghchi said there was “zero” trust in the US and that Iran would not accept a ceasefire, instead calling for a “complete end to the war” and reparations.

Since the start of the conflict, now in its second month, Iran has allowed only a trickle of ships to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, disrupting roughly 20% of global oil flows.

Iran says the strait is closed to what it describes as “enemy” shipping.

In recent days, Iranian officials have said the US may be plotting a ground attack with the arrival in the region of the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 3 500 Marines and sailors.

Araghchi warned that “we are waiting for them... they will incur heavy losses.”