US President Donald Trump is giving Iran's "fractured leadership" a brief window of just three to five days to present a unified response to peace talks — or risk a return to active conflict, three US officials conveyed the message to Axios on Wednesday.
"Trump is willing to give another three to five days of ceasefire to allow the Iranians to get their shit together," one US source briefed on the matter said. "It is not going to be open-ended."
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The stark warning comes a day after Trump extended the two-week ceasefire — which had been set to expire Wednesday — citing Tehran's deeply divided government.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: "Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal."
As per the officials, US negotiators believe a deal to end the war and address what remains of Iran's nuclear programme is still achievable, but worry they may not have anyone in Tehran empowered to say yes.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is barely communicating, while IRGC generals now in control of the country and Iran's civilian negotiators are openly at odds over strategy, he said.
As one US official put it: "We saw that there is an absolute fracture inside Iran between the negotiators and the military — with neither side having access to the supreme leader, who is not responsive."
Iran's civilian leaders — including Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — favoured continuing talks, but IRGC commander Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and his deputies refused to offer concessions and opposed negotiations as long as the naval blockade continues, reports said.
Iran's side dismissed the extension. Senior adviser Mahdi Mohammadi wrote that the ceasefire extension "has no meaning," adding: "The losing side cannot set conditions. The continuation of the blockade is no different from bombing and must be responded to militarily."
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Trump, meanwhile, maintained the naval blockade is his primary lever. "Iran doesn't want the Strait of Hormuz closed, they want it open so they can make $500 Million Dollars a day," he wrote on Truth Social. "They only say they want it closed because I have it totally blockade!, so they merely want to save face."
To end the war, the US is seeking a complete shutdown of Iran's nuclear programme, limits on its missile production, and curtailment of its support for regional allies including Hezbollah and Hamas — demands Tehran has publicly rejected. The clock, for now, is ticking again.
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