The war is turning into yet-another mess.
Several reports from Pakistan have said that the ceasefire ends at 4:50 am ET Pakistan time, which is 7:50 pm New York time today.
However in an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, Trump himself said it expires on “Wednesday evening Washington time.” That’s presumably a day later.
With news that JD Vance and other US negotiators aren’t yet in the air and were instead summoned to Washington for a meeting, the clock is really ticking. CNN reports that Vance has arrived there now.
One of the big hangups appears to be the US blockade of Iran’s ships. The WSJ reports that Iran has informed mediators it will send a delegation to Islamabad when the US lifts its blockade on Iranian ports. Trump has said he won’t do that, but it’s not clear why not. Obviously the measure is intended to put some pressure on Iran’s oil exports but if Trump really wanted a deal, that’s a fairly token gesture given what’s at stake.
Yesterday and early today in his interview on CNBC, Trump seemed to be working hard to spin the war as a win, which suggested he was done with it. However the terms are critical and Iran may be digging in and they continue to accuse the US of being untrustworthy. That deep sense of distrust in part because the US previously attacked during negotiations, is surely hampering talks.
This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.
