NPR
As the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deadline looms, here are the main sticking points
+544 words added -486 words removed
Special Series Middle East conflict Conflict in the Middle East has been escalating. These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them.
By
NPR Staff
A member of Pakistani security personnel looks over a checkpoint from a police booth on Monday amid heightened security ahead of a potential meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials in Islamabad.
Representatives from more than a dozen foreign diplomatic missions, United Nations offices and the media view damage at sites previously targeted by U.S.-Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran, on Monday.
Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz has rattled global markets, raising the national average price of gas above $4 a gallon.
AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Trump has consistently said that one of the main objectives of the war with Iran is to ensure that it never has a nuclear weapon. In his first interview after the fighting started, he said he believed Iran was "going to attack first" if the United States did not act. Trump did not cite intelligence to support that claim.
Vice President Vance said the first round of ceasefire talks held over a week ago broke down because Iran would not commit to forgoing a nuclear weapon.
"The simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon," Vance said.
For Tehran, the key demands for extending the ceasefire include an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and guarantees that the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah will not resume.
Israel and Lebanon agreed on a 10-day ceasefire last week, pausing fighting between Israel's military and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Mourners carry the flag-draped caskets of members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah who were killed in southern Lebanon during their funeral in the Kafaat area, in Beirut's southern suburbs, on Monday. Fadel Itani/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Iran had earlier refused to engage in more negotiations with the United States unless Israel stopped its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel, however, has vowed to keep its troops in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah said the Lebanese people maintain the "right to resist" Israeli forces in the country.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah broke out shortly after the start of the war with Iran on Feb. 28, with Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel in a show of solidarity with Tehran. Israeli forces responded with airstrikes and an invasion of southern Lebanon. Israel says it is creating a "buffer zone" to distance Hezbollah fire from Israeli border communities.
Israel's strikes have killed more than 2,300 people and displaced over 1 million in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. Hezbollah's attacks have killed at least 12 Israeli soldiers and two civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
As for the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, Iran has made it clear it sees lifting the blockade as a condition for further diplomacy.
After the first round of ceasefire talks in Islamabad ended without an agreement, the U.S. military blockaded Iranian shipping ports in a bid to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as well as put economic pressure on Iran to end the war. The U.S. military says it has forced 28 ships to turn back since the blockade began. However, maritime data analysis firm Lloyd's List says it has tracked "shadow fleet" vessels moving in and out of Iranian ports.
Iran briefly reopened the key shipping route for less than a day, only to announce it was reinstating control over the strait once more in response to the continued U.S. blockade.
Iranian officials have also signaled they want financial relief, including access to $6 billion in frozen assets, and do not want to negotiate while Washington keeps up military and economic pressure.
Rebecca Rosman contributed to this report from London.
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− Rebecca Conway/Getty Images hide caption
Vice President Vance is expected to travel to Islamabad soon to lead a U.S.
+ Rebecca Conway/Getty Images hide caption
The U.S.
− delegation for a second round of peace talks with Iran as the countries' two-week ceasefire expires soon.
+ and Iran were expected to begin a new round of talks in Pakistan this week, but there's increasing uncertainty about when or if they will happen.
− Middle East conflict What's it like to negotiate with Iran?
+ Even the timing of when the temporary U.S.-Iran ceasefire expires is unclear.
To help understand the latest, here is a look at where things stand and what the main sticking points are:
The potential talks between the U.S.
− We asked people who have done it But the prospects for renewed diplomacy remain unclear.
+ and Iran are up in the air.
Vice President Vance, head of the U.S.
− Iran says no decision to send a delegation has been made.
+ delegation, remained in Washington on Tuesday instead of flying to Islamabad as planned.
"Additional policy meetings are taking place at the White House in which the vice president will participate," a White House official said, on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
According to Iran's semiofficial news outlet Tasnim, Iran later notified Pakistan it would not be sending a delegation for talks on Wednesday, contrary to some news reports stating otherwise.
− President Trump reiterated, in an interview with CNBC Tuesday, that he does not want to extend the ceasefire.
+ It cited alleged violations of the temporary U.S.-Iran ceasefire by the U.S. among the reasons.
− There is also some confusion about when the ceasefire expires.
+ Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an English post on social media the continuing U.S.
− On Monday, Trump told Bloomberg News it ends Wednesday evening Eastern time.
+ naval blockade of Iranian ports is "an act of war and thus a violation of the ceasefire."
The expiration is looming — but it is unclear when exactly it ends.
− Yet mediating country Pakistan's information minister later said it expires Wednesday morning, 4:50 a.m.
+ President Trump told Bloomberg News on Monday the ceasefire would expire Wednesday evening Eastern time.
− local time, which would be Tuesday night in Washington.
+ Yet mediating country Pakistan's information minister later said it expires Wednesday at 4:50 a.m. local time, which would be Tuesday night (7:50 p.m.) in Washington.
− Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator and parliament speaker, accused the United States late Monday of forcing Iran to the negotiating table and said that on the contrary, Iran has been preparing "to reveal new cards on the battlefield."
"We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats," Qalibaf wrote in a post on social media.
− Majid Saeedi/Getty Images hide caption
Officials in Islamabad say the city remains ready to host the talks, though Pakistan's government has given no formal indication about the status of its ongoing mediation efforts.
+ Majid Saeedi/Getty Images hide caption
Earlier Tuesday, Trump said in an interview with CNBC that Iran should "use reason" and "common sense" so the two countries can reach a deal to end the war. But he's ready to resume bombing if an agreement isn't made before the two-week ceasefire ends.
− The first round of talks, held just over a week ago in Islamabad, ended without an agreement.
+ "Well, I expect to be bombing because I think that's a better attitude to go in with.
− Vance later accused Iran of refusing to accept Washington's terms on Iran's plans for nuclear enrichment.
+ We're ready to go," Trump said.
− Here are the main sticking points in the negotiations:
For officials in Washington, the main points of contention remain control over the Strait of Hormuz and the future of Iran's nuclear program.
+ Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened to target oil facilities in neighboring countries that allow the U.S. to resume launching attacks on Iran from their territory.
− The Trump administration has said it wants commercial shipping through the strategic waterway to be fully restored.
+ For officials in Washington, the main points of contention remain control over the Strait of Hormuz and the future of Iran's nuclear program.
Middle East conflict What's it like to negotiate with Iran?
− Around 20% of the world's crude oil and natural gas passes through the narrow strait.
+ We asked people who have done it The Trump administration has said it wants commercial shipping through the strategic waterway to be fully restored. Around 20% of the world's crude oil and natural gas typically passes through the narrow strait.
− Since the start of the war on Feb.
+ After the U.S.
− 28, Iran's main leverage over the U.S.
+ and Israel started to attack Iran on Feb.
− has been its control of the strait, including the collection of tolls from commercial ships passing through it as a condition for reopening the waterway.
+ 28, Iran began to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz. It prevented most commercial ships from transiting and collected steep tolls from some of the few that did.
− "The weaker party gains just by virtue of entering into a negotiation process," Mark Freeman, executive director of the Institute for Integrated Transitions, a peace and security think tank based in Spain, told NPR.
− The other big demand coming from Washington centers on Iran's nuclear program – and whether Tehran will accept limits on nuclear enrichment.
+ "The weaker party gains just by virtue of entering into a negotiation process," Mark Freeman, executive director of the Institute for Integrated Transitions, a peace and security think tank based in Spain, told NPR.
− In an interview with The John Fredericks Show on Monday, a pro-MAGA radio talk show, President Trump said Iran would return to negotiations, but insisted the country "will not have a nuclear weapon."
"They're going to negotiate," Trump said.
+ The other big demand coming from Washington centers on Iran's nuclear program — and whether Tehran will accept limits on nuclear enrichment.
A commercial vessel is seen off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday.
− "And if they don't, they're going to see problems like they've never seen before."
A commercial vessel is seen off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday.