President Donald Trump is now facing a trio of challenging decisions regarding the conflict with Iran, following the cancellation of peace negotiations and the rejection of Iran’s last-minute proposal.
After being swiftly evacuated to safety alongside the First Lady on Saturday night due to a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump remains resolute in his goal to emerge victorious in the conflict and secure an agreement with Iran.
The options before him include intensifying the military engagement, leveraging the strategic closure of the Strait of Hormuz to coerce Iran into a settlement, or reluctantly accepting a less-than-ideal agreement, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
On Sunday morning, Trump made a bold claim that Iran’s oil pipelines are on the verge of an imminent rupture, predicting an explosion within three days.
“What happens is that line explodes from within. Both mechanically and in the earth, something happens where it just explodes and they say they only have about three days left before that happens,” he shared with Fox News.
“And when it explodes, you can never rebuild it the way it is. It’s a very powerful thing that takes place sort of having to do with nature,” he added.
Just hours before chaos unfolded at the Washington Hilton on Saturday evening, the president revealed that Iran had made an offer to the US about 10 minutes after he canceled the trip to Pakistan that his special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were supposed to embark on.
The trip was meant to work towards peace negotiations between the US and the Middle Eastern country, but Trump said it was not happening because of ‘tremendous infighting and confusion within their “leadership”,’ he wrote on Truth Social.
Donald Trump has three hard choices to weigh amid the war with Iran, and said its oil pipelines will explode in about three days
The US president can either escalate the conflict, use the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to pressure Iran into a compromise, or decide to settle for a deal he does not want
‘I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians,’ he wrote.
‘Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their “leadership.” Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!’
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday and held a series of meetings with Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday.
They discussed what Araghchi described as Iran’s red lines for negotiations, and said Tehran would engage with Pakistan’s mediation efforts ‘until a result is achieved.’
Soon after Trump decided to abort the trip, he revealed that Iran had made an offer, but he wasn’t happy with it.
He told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Palm Beach, Florida, that Tehran ‘offered a lot, but not enough.’
‘They gave us a paper that should have been better,’ Trump said. ‘And interestingly, immediately when I canceled it, within ten minutes, we got a new paper that was much better.’
Trump also reiterated his claim that there is ‘tremendous infighting’ within Iran’s government. He said Iranian officials are ‘probably fighting for leadership,’ adding that he will ‘deal with whoever runs the show.’
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (center) arrived in Islamabad on Friday and held a series of meetings with Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday. He did not meet with US officials after Trump scrapped the meeting
Iran has not yet acknowledged or confirmed what Trump said about its supposed ‘offer.’
The country’s remaining leaders often contradict the president’s statements on the status of diplomacy between Iran and the US.
Iranian officials previously said it was not yet ready to hold a new round of face-to-face talks with American officials, citing Washington’s refusal to abandon ‘maximalist’ demands on key issues.
Tehran also said it will not hand over its enriched uranium to the US, rejecting claims made by Trump.
Iran has further asked how they can trust the US after talks last year and early this year over Tehran’s nuclear program ended with it being attacked by the US and Israel.
But Araghchi could still agree to meet with Trump in the next couple of days, people briefed on the matter, including an Iranian diplomat, told the WSJ.
An open-ended ceasefire has paused most of the fighting in Iran, but the economic fallout grows with global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer, and other supplies disrupted by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Islamabad had been in near-lockdown ahead of the expected talks. Pakistan has been trying to get the US and Iran back to the negotiation table since Trump this week announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire, honoring Islamabad’s request for more diplomatic outreach.
An open-ended ceasefire has paused most of the fighting in Iran, but the economic fallout grows with global shipments of oil, liquefied natural gas, fertilizer, and other supplies disrupted by the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz (pictured on Friday)
Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation in the first round of talks with Tehran that collapsed, was not expected to attend the second round of negotiations.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted on Friday that he had been placed on ‘standby’ to travel to Pakistan should peace talks become serious and said it was not a case of the VP being sidelined by Trump.
The first round of talks between the US and Iran lasted more than 20 hours and were face-to-face, the highest-level direct talks between the longtime adversaries since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Araghchi and Trump’s envoys also held hours of indirect talks in Geneva on February 27 but walked away without a deal.
The following day, Israel and the US started the war against Iran.
