islamabad, pakistan —
As the standoff between the United States and Iran drags on and the world waits in hopes of a deal, another outcome – the possibility of renewed war – looms very real.
The clock is ticking with a Friday deadline for Pakistan to receive Iran’s revised peace proposal after US President Donald Trump rejected an earlier peace proposal.
Mediators in Islamabad believe a fair deal is within reach and it is up to Tehran to honor it, according to people familiar with the process. The United States and Iran have been working tirelessly to reach an agreement, but as they spent much of this week waiting for a response, they redoubled their threats and provocations.
On Wednesday, the earliest the Iranian government was expected to react, Trump posted a mock image of himself holding a gun on Truth Social and called on Iranian leaders to “get their act together.”
The caption read, “No more Mr. Nice Guy.”
Later, in the Oval Office, Trump added: “At this point, unless we agree that nuclear weapons don’t exist, there will never be a deal.”
But Iran defiantly pushed back against its key demands. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a message to state media on Thursday that Iran would “defend” its nuclear and missile capabilities and said there was no place for “foreign actors” in the Persian Gulf except in the “deep waters.”
More than seven weeks after Khamenei was announced as the new supreme leader following his father’s assassination, Iranians have yet to see or hear from him, although he has issued several written messages.
Nearly four weeks after the United States and Iran first reached a temporary ceasefire, these back-and-forth jabs appear to be driving the parties further apart than ever. Late Thursday, President Trump said that no one but himself and a few people knew about the status of negotiations with Iran, suggesting that they were progressing even though they appeared to be at a standstill.
But it is clear that Iran’s nuclear capabilities remain a major issue, with President Trump demanding guarantees to reduce its nuclear program, while Tehran insists it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. This is an important red line for both sides, and the situation has reached an impasse.
Tehran appears to be buying time, dragging out talks on the talks and sending out multiple proposals in seemingly gradual motion, perhaps in the hope that either President Trump will eventually tire of the fight or that domestic political pressure over rising gas prices will force his hand.
But President Trump is said to be considering options to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table, including receiving briefings from military officials about possible new attacks against Iran.
But his current preferred strategy causes the most economic pain, people familiar with the talks told CNN. The official said his team is preparing for an extension of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, including a long-term closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the blockade began earlier this month, the United States has seized or diverted about 40 ships attempting to enter or exit Iranian ports, with President Trump telling reporters earlier this week that “the blockade is genius.”
The administration is calling on foreign governments to join a new coalition supporting freedom of navigation in the disputed waterway, as both the United States and Iran maintain separate blockades.
But the economic fallout continues to grow, with oil prices soaring to a four-year high this week and U.S. gasoline prices soaring as markets worry that peace talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz may fail.
The U.S. blockade has clearly irritated some in Tehran, with the military command and the supreme military adviser, Moshen Rezaei, publicly threatening this week to retaliate if the blockade continues.
But on Thursday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf, who is leading negotiations with Tehran and has emerged as the Iranian government’s main spokesperson, pointed to Iran’s vast land and sea borders and ridiculed the concept of a blockade of Iran.
“If two walls were built, one from New York City to the West Coast and one from Los Angeles to the East Coast, the total length would be 7,755 kilometers, which would still be about 1,000 kilometers short of Iran’s entire border,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.
He added a personal joke to the US Secretary of Defense, writing: “P.S. To Pete Hegseth: 1 kilometer = 0.62 miles.”
It is unclear what will happen after Friday if Iran does not respond favorably with a new offer. But what is certain is that both sides are preparing for a return to fighting if peace terms cannot be agreed.
