Once again, it appears there’s an unbridgeable chasm between the United States and Iran as each offers its respective list of conflicting demands while viewing the other’s as unrealistic and impossible. American officials were reportedly frustrated with Iran’s fantastical list Wednesday, with one describing it as “ridiculous and unrealistic,” following Trump’s announcement of a “big present” from Iran.

Iran’s demands include the following:

• The dismantling and closure of U.S. bases in the Middle East. (Never happening.)
• Reparations for the attacks in Iran. (As if!)
• Transit fees for using the Strait of Hormuz, citing Egypt’s fees for the Suez Canal. (The difference? The waterway is an immutable geographical feature that nature maintains. The Suez Canal is man-made and requires maintenance, hence the fees.)
• Guarantees of a permanent end to the war with Iran and Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah. (What are they thinking?)
• Removal of all sanctions on Iran. (This is the least unreasonable.)
• The retention of its ballistic missile programs without any restrictions. (After showing the world their missiles can reach Europe.)

The demands of the U.S. remain unchanged from prewar negotiations:

• The dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program and handing over its stock of enriched uranium to the U.S.
• Limitations on Iran’s ballistic missile program, for use only in self-defense.
• Cessation of support for Iran’s Middle East proxy groups.

U.S. and Middle Eastern officials dismissed Iran’s demands as so far-fetched that they would make a deal even less likely than the one negotiated before the war that ended in failure.

Iran has meanwhile denied it was involved in negotiations while taunting the United States, saying the U.S. is holding talks with itself.

Ebrahim Zolfaqari, the top spokesperson for Iran’s joint military command, asked if “the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself.”

“People like us can never get along with people like you. The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he said in a video statement. “Your era of empty promises has come to an end. As we have always said … no one like us will make a deal with you. Not now. Not ever.”

He said that the U.S. must come to terms with the fact that Iran alone dictates regional stability, and oil prices rise and fall at its behest.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also pointed out that Iran cannot trust the U.S. during negotiations, since the U.S. twice attacked Iran while talks were ongoing. Iran had a “very bad experience with American diplomacy,” he said, adding that Iran was not negotiating at all.

Meanwhile, Pakistani officials confirmed that Tehran had received Washington’s 15-point proposal for a ceasefire deal.