Trump makes stunning admission on key proposal he rejected
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a maternal health event in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 11, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
May 11, 2026
The Trump administration sent Tehran its proposal last week to end the U.S. war against Iran, and days later on Sunday, finally received a response – one that President Donald Trump rejected out of hand, and on Monday, made the startling admission that he hadn’t read it in its entirety.
Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office Monday, Trump was asked about the state of the ongoing ceasefire between the United States and Iran, one that began in early April but has seen continued hostilities between the two nations.
“It's unbelievably weak,” Trump said, speaking of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
The reason, at least in part, Trump explained, was Iran’s own proposal to end the conflict it had sent to Washington the day before.
“I would call [the ceasefire] the weakest right now after reading that piece of garbage they sent us,” Trump said.
“I didn't even finish reading it. I said ‘I'm not gonna waste my time reading it.’ I would say right now it's on life support, I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support where the doctor walks in and says 'sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.'”
Trump is expected to depart for China this week for a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Journalist Charbel Antoun, however, argued Trump would be walking into the discussions with a “weakened” hand given his failure to secure a deal with Iran, with the summit – scheduled for Thursday and Friday – viewed by some as a “de facto deadline for stabilizing the Iran war.”
Trump on the Iran peace proposal he rejected:
"I didn’t even finish reading it" pic.twitter.com/pVMfYRPHDV
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) May 11, 2026