Iraqi PM’s Office Denies New York Times Report on Alleged U.S. Ceasefire Proposal to Iran

Peregraf — Iraq’s Prime Minister’s Office on Friday rejected a New York Times report claiming Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi carried a U.S. ceasefire proposal to Tehran during his official visit to Iran, calling the allegations “entirely unfounded.”

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Media Office said the claims published by the newspaper “bear no relation to reality.”

“The allegations contained in the report are entirely unfounded and bear no relation to reality,” the statement said. 

The office urged media organizations to rely on official sources and avoid publishing unverified information or reports attributed to anonymous sources. 

The denial came after The New York Times reported, citing Iranian and Iraqi officials, that Iran had rejected a ceasefire proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump that was allegedly conveyed to Tehran by Al-Zaidi during his visit. According to the report, Iranian officials rejected the proposal because it did not address the future of the Strait of Hormuz.

Al-Zaidi traveled to Tehran on Thursday for talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials. During the visit, the two sides signed several agreements and memoranda of understanding and discussed bilateral relations, economic cooperation, regional developments, and security.

Earlier, Al-Zaidi said Iraq and Iran’s security is “interconnected” and pledged that Iraq “will not allow any threat to Iran to originate from its territory.”