President Donald Trump met Tuesday evening at the White House with his national security team, facing a major decision: what to do next with Iran.
The ceasefire was nearing its end, and Air Force Two was on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews before Vice President JD Vance’s scheduled departure to Pakistan for the next round of talks.
But the administration had a problem: near total silence from the Iranians, writes CNN.
In the days prior, the US had sent Iran a list of general points of agreement they wanted to accept before the next round of negotiations.
But days passed without the US receiving a response, raising questions about how much Vance and others could achieve by moving to Pakistan for the planned face-to-face discussions, according to three officials familiar with the situation.
While Trump met with Vance at the White House on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the administration had still not received any response from the Iranians.
Officials had urged Pakistan's chief mediator, Marshal Asim Munir, to at least get a response before Vance boarded Air Force Two. However, hours later, nothing was known.
Disagreements in Iran's leadership?
At the White House, Trump's top advisers believe that a key reason for the lack of a response lies in the fractures within the current Iranian leadership, their understanding partially based on communications from Pakistani intermediaries, according to the three officials.
The administration's assessment is that the Iranians have not reached a consensus on their position or how much they should empower negotiators regarding uranium enrichment and the country's current stockpile of enriched uranium - a major sticking point in peace talks.
Part of the issue is whether the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is providing clear instructions to his subordinates - or if they are simply left to guess what he wants, without specific guidance. US officials believe that his efforts to remain hidden have disrupted internal discussions within the Iranian government.
Despite these significant obstacles, an official stated that there are still chances for American and Iranian negotiators to meet soon. However, if and when this will happen is uncertain.
Trump, eager to find a solution
Instead of resuming military strikes, President Donald Trump chose to extend a two-week ceasefire with Iran just before it expired. This time, no end date was specified.
Trump, who described Iranian government officials as "deeply divided" in a post on Truth Social announcing the ceasefire extension, remains eager to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, being cautious not to reignite an unpopular war he claims the US has already won.
However, the failure of negotiations, at least for the moment, underscores the challenges Trump continues to face in trying to secure an agreement that meets his numerous demands.
Iran has publicly insisted that Trump lift the blockade on ships entering or leaving Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz before Tehran agrees to a new round of talks. Trump rejected this demand. "We will not open the strait until we have a final agreement," he said Tuesday morning on CNBC.
In an afternoon meeting, Trump and the rest of the group decided to extend the ceasefire, which Pakistani mediators said was set to expire in just a few hours, although Trump had suggested it would last until Wednesday evening in Washington. This decision could theoretically give Iran more time to reach a unified position, with Khamenei's approval, although there is no guarantee of this.
Officials said a trip could be arranged quickly if they receive indications that Iran is ready to return to the negotiating table. Both the US and Tehran suffer economically as long as the strait remains effectively closed, leading some officials in the region to hope that both parties are motivated to reach a solution as soon as possible.
Iran was not impressed
Pakistani officials, who on Tuesday made intense efforts to persuade Iran to participate in talks, were also encouraging Trump to extend the ceasefire. As its expiration approached, Trump made the decision to "extend the ceasefire until discussions are concluded, one way or another."
Iranian officials did not seem impressed. "Trump's ceasefire extension means nothing," said Mahdi Mohammadi, an advisor to Iranian Parliament President Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian negotiating delegation. "The losing party cannot dictate terms. Continuing the siege is no different from bombing and must be met with a military response."
Trump's announcement that the ceasefire would remain in place concluded a day marked by uncertainty, which began with his statement that he "expected to bomb" Iran again soon.
However, in the absence of a new deadline, Trump's advisors privately warned the president that easing pressure could allow Iran to stall negotiations, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
Negotiators had hoped to reach a framework agreement between the US and Iran this week. American officials hoped this would then lead to more detailed discussions in the following weeks on the finer points of an agreement.
Is Iran stalling?
This approach, however, has also faced criticism, warning that Iran could deliberately prolong the talks to buy time, to reveal some of its missile systems that have been buried during the war.
A number of critical points - including Iran's future ability to enrich uranium, the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and which sanctions on the country will be lifted - remain unresolved, according to individuals familiar with the negotiations.
How flexible each party is regarding their terms will ultimately dictate whether an agreement can be reached.
For Trump, an imperative is not to accept an agreement that could be compared to the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal with Iran from which Trump withdrew in 2018 and consistently criticized as weak.
In recent days, Trump has been optimistic about securing a better deal, relying on his negotiating skills, even stating on Tuesday that he would have "won Vietnam very quickly" if he had been president at that time.
"I think we will reach an excellent agreement. I believe they have no choice. We destroyed their navy, we destroyed their air force, we eliminated their leaders, which complicates things in a certain sense," he insisted.
A few hours later, while congratulating college athletes in the State Dining Room, Trump was unusually silent about the war in his statements, waving off reporters trying to ask questions about the conflict before he left the room.