With tensions escalating, Iranian authorities have signaled their readiness to introduce “new strategies on the battlefield,” responding to President Donald Trump’s mounting threats as a critical two-week ceasefire nears its conclusion.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, declared that Tehran remains firm in refusing any dialogue with the United States as long as Trump’s naval blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz persists.

On Thursday, the blockade extended its reach to cargo ships transporting contraband, including arms and munitions. The US Navy announced that any vessel suspected of approaching Iranian waters would face the “belligerent right to visit and search.”

“Trump aims to turn negotiations into a capitulation table or justify renewed aggression by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire,” Ghalibaf stated in a public post.

Deal or Deadlock? 

“We reject negotiations under the looming shadow of threats, and over the past two weeks, we have been preparing to unveil new strategies on the battlefield,” he added.

Amidst these developments, reports have emerged that Vice President JD Vance is planning a trip to Pakistan to pursue a possible agreement to halt the conflict before the ceasefire deadline on Tuesday evening.

Several Iranian officials have also suggested a delegation from the country was still planning to go to Pakistan for the negotiations – and Ghalibaf would once again lead the negotiations on the part of the Iranian government, according to The New York Times. 

But in public, many in the Iranian government have refused to confirm whether they would take part in the second round of peace talks in Islamabad this week.

When asked about reports that a US delegation was planning to make the trip, for example, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said it’s ‘their own business.’

He added that Iranian officials ‘do not see any serious sign of US commitment.’

Once Bitten, Twice Shy 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also said for ‘reason’ to prevail in the negotiations, Iran wants stronger signs Trump would stand by a deal.

Officials in Tehran noted that Trump has already pulled out of a previous US nuclear agreement with Iran and he twice joined Israel in a war against the country.

‘I think the Iranians really do want a deal, but Trump is just too crude – he just wants total victory in public,’ Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of regional news outlet Amwaj.media told The Times. ‘And the Iranian’s feel like time is on their side.’

He explained that even though Iran’s decision to block traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would have damaging economic and geopolitical consequences for Iran, its government believes it can withstand pressure longer than Trump.

The government must also deal with its own hardliners, who have spoken out against surrender, added Hamidreza Azizi, an expert on Iran security issues at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

‘They have a core support base of the Islamic Republic, which is very hardline and ideological and is very sensitive to any sign of a concession,’ Azizi said.

Preferring War to Pressure 

‘The other pressure, of course, is Donald Trump and his apparent willingness to stick to his coercive diplomatic strategy.’ 

At the same time, some Iranian officials are worried they could come under attack even amid peace talks, or that Trump could return to a full-fledged war, said Sasan Karimi, the vice president for strategy in Iran’s previous government.

‘Negotiators do not even know whether they could be attacked or not when they are in the air,’ he said. ‘They don’t want to fall into a trap and they don’t want to have pressurized negotiations, whether that is by limiting the time or by setting preconditions.’

‘The Iranians, in those circumstances, would prefer war,’ Karimi said. 

Trump has already warned that ‘lots of bombs start going off’ if Tehran does not agree to a deal.

The president also said that the Strait of Hormuz would continue to be blockaded until the US and Iran reach an agreement on the war. 

Guaranteeing Peace 

He later posted on Truth Social that he is ‘winning a War, BY A LOT’ and his deal ‘will be something that the entire World will be proud of’. 

Trump went on a posting spree on Truth Social on Monday evening, first saying that ‘the DEAL that we are making with Iran will be FAR BETTER than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as “The Iran Nuclear Deal,” penned by Barack Hussein Obama and Sleepy Joe Biden, one of the Worst Deals ever made having to do with the Security of our Country.’

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a 2015 agreement between Iran and the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany to restrict Tehran’s nuclear program for sanctions relief.

The US withdrew from this agreement in 2018 and has been monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Trump continued: ‘If I did not terminate that “Deal,” Nuclear Weapons would have been used on Israel, and all over the Middle East, including our cherished U.S. Military Bases.’ 

He added: ‘If a Deal happens under “TRUMP,” it will guarantee Peace, Security, and Safety, not only for Israel and the Middle East, but for Europe, America, and everywhere else. 

Blockade vs. Breakthrough 

‘It will be something that the entire World will be proud of, instead of the years of Embarrassment and Humiliation that we have been forced to suffer due to incompetent and cowardly leadership!’ 

In another post he wrote: ‘I read the Fake News saying that I am under “pressure” to make a Deal. THIS IS NOT TRUE! I am under no pressure whatsoever, although, it will all happen, relatively quickly! Time is not my adversary, the only thing that matters is that we finally, after 47 years, straighten out the MESS that other Presidents let happen because they didn’t have the Courage or Foresight to do what had to be done with respect to Iran.’ 

Half an hour later he posted again that ‘things are going very well, our Military has been amazing’, before attacking the ‘fake news’ which would make you ‘actually think we are losing the War’.

Minutes later, he said: ‘The Iranian leadership has forced hundreds of Ships toward the United States, mostly Texas, Louisiana and Alaska, to get their Oil – Thank you very much!’

But Iranian officials have said the naval blockade of the strait ‘is a very fundamental obstacle in negotiations,’ according to the state-run Tasnim news agency.

It added that Pakistani mediators confirmed they raised the issue with the US president.

That’s All, Very Simple 

The regime also objects to unspecified additional US demands communicated through diplomatic channels.

‘The Iranian delegation believes that as long as America does not look at the issue realistically and approaches the negotiating table with the same wrong calculations that led to its heavy battlefield defeat, negotiations are just a waste of time,’ Tasnim reported.

The news agency said Tehran ‘has no intention to participate in American theatre’ until important obstacles are removed and ‘a clear horizon for reaching an agreement acceptable to Iran takes shape’.

At the same time, Trump said Iranian officials must agree to abandon any pursuit of nuclear weapons. 

‘Get rid of their nuclear weapons. That’s all very simple,’ the president told reporters of his demands. ‘There will be no nuclear weapon.’

Meanwhile, peace talks between Israel and Lebanon ​will ‌resume on ​Thursday in Washington, an Israeli source said. 

Lebanon’s president had earlier said these talks should be seen as separate to any negotiations taking place with Iran. 

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