The front page of a Javanese newspaper (L) and the front page of the Jam Jam newspaper, showing a cartoon of US President Donald Trump drowning in the Strait of Hormuz with the headline “Marine Bluff,” are sold at a newsstand in Tehran on April 13, 2026.
Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
The US and Iran have stepped up their war of words as the end of a bitter conflict draws to a close, with each side raising the stakes ahead of a second attempt to reach a peace deal.
The Speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, appeared to protest in a social media post on Tuesday, criticizing US President Donald Trump for “blocking and violating the ceasefire agreement,” and seeking to turn the talks into “a table of surrender or justification for renewed war.”
Ghalibaf also suggested that Iran hold new power in this suspension. “For the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” Ghalibaf said, without elaborating. “We do not accept negotiations under the guise of threats,” he added.
The sharp speech came after Trump renewed his threat to attack Iran with massive military force if a deal was not reached, saying “more bombs [will] it starts to come out.”
The status of the ongoing peace talks and other important details of the existing relationship between the belligerent countries has clearly grown, with Trump vacillating between resuming saber-rattling propaganda and showing Washington’s readiness for further negotiations with Iran.
“This is the last chance to get a deal before it expires,” Marc Sievers, the former US ambassador to Oman, said on CNBC’s “Access Middle East” on Monday, warning that the stakes are high if Trump follows through on his threat to resume war against Iran’s plants and bridges.
The escalation of tensions comes as the US delegation prepares to return to Pakistan for the second round of peace talks. The US delegation is “planning to go to Islamabad soon,” a source familiar with the matter told CNBC on Monday morning.
Iran has repeatedly denied that it will participate in the meeting. A delegation from Tehran plans to travel to Islamabad on Tuesday for talks, according to the New York Times, citing two Iranian officials.
The first round of talks in Islamabad, led by Vice President JD Vance and US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, ended on April 12 with no resolution on issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.
The US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on the night of April 7. The interim agreement has come under pressure during its short term, with each side accusing the other of violating its terms.
In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Trump said the deal expires “Wednesday evening Washington time,” possibly buying more hours of negotiations. Trump added that he is unlikely to extend the Iran freeze beyond Wednesday and will not open the Strait of Hormuz until an agreement is reached with Tehran.
When asked if he would expect war to resume immediately if they fail to reach an agreement, Trump said, “If there is no agreement, I would expect it.”
Peace talks to come
A road map, rather than a permanent solution, is the practical outcome of the Islamabad talks, said Cornelia Meyer, CEO of Meyer Resources. Referring to the Iran nuclear deal, which took more than two years of negotiations before reaching an initial draft in 2015, Meyer said “the expectation of a real peace settlement is going too far.”
Vance, along with officials from the National Security Council, the State Department, and the Pentagon, is reportedly part of a US delegation headed to Pakistan on Tuesday, according to multiple media sources.
American negotiators may be at a disadvantage at the negotiating table with a team of experienced Iranian officials – a team of experts who “know their portfolios,” said Alan Eyre, a former US diplomat who helped negotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, while the US side lacks comparable expertise in international relations.
Unless the U.S. brings in “a team of competent experts that it trusts … they are out of their league,” Eyre said, adding that the “best, most realistic outcome” of the possible negotiations would be an agreement on general principles and an extension of the ceasefire.
The fate of Iran’s nuclear program will remain a key sticking point in the negotiations. Trump said on Friday that Iran had agreed to transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the US, a claim Iran denied within hours.
In a post on Truth Social late Monday in the region, Trump also said that the US “Operation Midnight Hammer” – the June 2025 strikes targeting three key facilities in Tehran’s nuclear program – had succeeded in the “complete destruction of the Nuclear Dust Zone” and that “excavation will be a long and difficult process.”
The US and Iran have also been at loggerheads over maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, with Trump vowing to close the blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran reasserting military control of the vital waterway. The chokepoint in normal times is the route of 20% of the world’s oil and gas transportation.
The ongoing tension in this route, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran accused the US of attacking an Iranian merchant ship and demanded the release of its crew.
Over the weekend, the US Navy shot and intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship attempting to bypass the blockade – the first major engagement since the US embargo began – while Tehran fired on two ships attempting to pass, the latest escalation of a critical vein that has put the two sides on a collision course as the clock ticks down in Islamabad.
“Any escalation, especially the war around Hormuz, could lead to an increase in oil prices and reduce the risk,” said Lloyd Chan, senior financial analyst at MUFG Global Markets Research, noting that the negative outlook for peace talks has left markets speculating on when energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz could resume.
– CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
