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Tehran, Iran – United States President Donald Trump’s announcements about securing major concessions from Tehran have riled supporters of the Iranian establishment, prompting rejections and clarifications from the authorities.

Several current and former senior officials, state media and the Islamic Republic’s hardcore backers expressed anger, frustration, and confusion after the US leader made a series of claims, with days left on a two-week ceasefire reached on April 8.

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Trump on Friday said Iran and the US would jointly dig up the enriched uranium buried under the rubble of bombed Iranian nuclear sites, and transfer it to the US. He claimed Iran had agreed to stop enriching uranium on its soil.

He also said the Strait of Hormuz had been opened and would never be closed again, while the US naval blockade of Iran’s ports remained in place, and sea mines were removed or were in the process of being removed.

Trump also emphasised that Iran would not receive billions of dollars of its own frozen assets abroad due to US sanctions, and that the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was completely unrelated to Iran.

Amid Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to mediate another round of negotiations, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led the Iranian delegation to the Islamabad talks earlier this month, rejected all of Trump’s claims.

“With these lies, they did not win the war, and they certainly will not get anywhere in negotiations either,” he posted on X early on Saturday.

By Saturday noon, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a statement, saying the Strait of Hormuz is once again heavily restricted and under “strict management” of the armed forces. It cited continued “acts of piracy and maritime theft under the so-called label of a blockade” by Washington as the reason.

‘Haze of confusion’

In the hours it took between Trump’s flurry of announcements on Friday and official responses from Iranian authorities, supporters of the establishment voiced serious concerns about any major concessions.

“Is there no Muslim out there to talk to the people a bit about what is happening?!” Ezzatollah Zarghami, a former state television chief and current member of the Supreme Cyberspace Council that controls the heavily restricted internet in Iran, wrote on X.

Alireza Zakani, the hardline mayor of Tehran, said if any of Trump’s claims are true, then the Iranian establishment must beware “not to gift the vile enemy in negotiations what it failed to achieve in the field”.

A fan account on X for Saeed Jalili, an ultrahardline member of the Supreme National Security Council who has opposed any deals with the US for decades, said “dissent” may be at play. It said Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen or heard from outside of several written statements attributed to him, must release a voice or video message to confirm what is happening.

Jalili’s main account distanced itself from the comment, saying the fan account – which was subsequently deleted – was a sign of “infiltration” by enemies of Iran who were trying to sow discord.

Iranian state media released another written statement attributed to Khamenei on Saturday to mark Army Day, but made no mention of the political drama unfolding hours earlier, or the negotiations with the US.

The dissonance was clearly on display on state television and other state-linked media on Friday, especially those affiliated with the IRGC.

Multiple state television hosts and analysts harshly attacked Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi because he tweeted on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was “declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation”.

One of the hosts demanded Araghchi must immediately clarify. Another said the top diplomat’s tweet was in English, and since the Iranian people do not have access to X due to the state-imposed near-total internet shutdown for seven weeks, the message was not directed at the people.

With a huge Hezbollah flag in the background, a furious presenter on state television’s Channel 3 claimed that Araghchi was somehow “the representative of the people of Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq” because they are a part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” of armed forces, so he should demand concessions on their behalf from Trump.

Morteza Mahmoudvand, a representative for Tehran in the Iranian parliament, went as far as saying Araghchi would have been impeached had it not been for “the excuse of war”.

The Fars and Tasnim news sites, which are affiliated with the IRGC, also heavily criticised Araghchi and called for further explanations on Friday evening, with Fars arguing that “Iranian society was plunged into a haze of confusion.”

Armed supporters in the streets

Critical comments from supporters of the Iranian government also flooded social media, including local messaging applications and the comments section of state-run sites.

“We took to the streets every night with clear demands, but you shook hands with the killer of our supreme leader and handed our strait to the Zionists,” one user wrote on Friday in the local app Baleh, in reference to Israel.

“After all these years of sanctions and war and costs imposed on the people, if you are to give up the uranium and the strait, then why did you play with the people’s livelihoods and the blood of the martyrs for so long?” another user wrote.

A large number of analysts and media personalities, including Hossein Shariatmadar, the head of the Kayhan newspaper, who was appointed by late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also voiced criticism and demanded answers on Fars and other outlets.

Regardless of whether there will be more mediated negotiations in Pakistan or whether the war will continue, Iran continues to encourage and arm backers to take to the streets to maintain control.

State media on Friday aired footage of more armed convoys moving through the streets of Tehran while waving the flags of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi and other groups. The video below shows women and children crewing heavy machineguns mounted on the back of pick-up trucks during a rally in downtown Tehran.

With no end in sight to the state-imposed internet shutdown that has wiped out millions of jobs in Iran, in addition to steel factories and other infrastructure that were destroyed, the Iranian economy continues to suffer.

The timing of the back-and-forth between Trump and the Iranian officials meant that oil prices dropped before Western markets closed on Friday, and the Iranian currency experienced more volatility.

The rial was priced at about 1.46 million against the US dollar on Saturday morning, the first day of the working week in Iran. But it shot back up to about 1.51 million after the IRGC announced the repeated closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Reports of Iranian gunboats opening fire on a tanker in strait, after Tehran said it is closing the waterway until the US lifts the blockade of its ports.

Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again, calling the decision a response to a continued blockade of its ports by the United States.

The Iranian military on Saturday said control of the strategic waterway, through which 20 percent of the global oil flows, has “returned to its previous state”, with reports saying Iranian gunboats fired at a merchant vessel as it attempted to ‌cross.

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The closure of the strait came hours after it was reopened, with more than a dozen commercial ships passing through the waterway, after a US-mediated 10-day ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Lebanon.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday said in a statement, cited by the Iranian media, that the ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports represented “acts of piracy and maritime theft”, adding that the control over Hormuz is “under the strict management and control of the armed forces”.

“Until the US restores full freedom of navigation for vessels travelling from Iran to their destinations and back, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will remain tightly controlled and in its previous condition,” it said.

By 10:30 GMT on Saturday, no fewer than eight oil and gas tankers had crossed the strait, but at least as many ships appeared to have turned back, having begun to exit the Gulf, the AFP news agency reported.

The toing and froing over the strait cast doubt on US President Donald Trump’s optimism the day before, that a peace deal to end the US-Israel war on Iran was “very close”.

Trump had celebrated the reopening of the strait on Friday, but warned the US attacks would resume until Iran agreed to a deal, which included its nuclear programme.

“Maybe I won’t extend it,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One about the temporary ceasefire agreement in place. “So you’ll have a blockade, and unfortunately we’ll have to start dropping bombs again.”

Asked whether a potential deal could be made in this short timeframe, Trump said: “I think it’s going to happen.”

But Iran says no date has been agreed for another round of peace talks, accusing the US of “betraying” diplomacy in all negotiations.

The conflicting and changing reports about the strait and how much freedom ships have to transit through it have deterred many vessels from crossing, according to John-Paul Rodrigue, a maritime shipping specialist at Texas A&M University.

“Ships have been attempting transit since the announcement, but it looks like many of them are heading back because the situation is unclear,” Rodrigue told Al Jazeera. “There is contradictory information being issued by all parties.”

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said “uncertainty is the name of the game” as far as the Strait of Hormuz is concerned.

“Iran is looking for a comprehensive end to the war across the region, security assurances, sanctions relief, the unfreezing of frozen assets, regional relations – and on top of all of that – the nuclear dossier and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium,” he said.

“But right now, uncertainty is the name of the game. The fragile situation makes it hard to talk about the possibility of successful negotiations down the road.”

Field Marshal Asim Munir leaves Tehran while premier Shehbaz Sharif heads home from Turkiye amid hopes of another round of US-Iran talks.

Pakistan’s army chief and the prime minister have wrapped up separate diplomatic visits aimed at advancing efforts to end the United States-Iran conflict, with Field Marshal Asim Munir leaving Tehran and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returning from Turkiye.

Munir met Iran’s leadership and peace negotiators during a three-day visit to Tehran, a Pakistani military statement said on Saturday.

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The visit demonstrated Pakistan’s “unwavering resolve to facilitate a negotiated settlement… and to promote peace, stability and prosperity,” the military said ahead of expected US-Iran talks in Islamabad in the coming days.

Munir held talks with the country’s president, foreign minister, parliament speaker and head of Iran’s military central command centre.

Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, led the Iranian delegation to Islamabad for peace talks with the US last week, the highest level face-to-face contact between Washington and Tehran in decades.

Those talks ended without agreement, and a ceasefire is due to expire on April 22.

But diplomacy has continued, with Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye to push the peace process.

His three-country trip concluded on Saturday, with Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar departing a diplomacy forum in Antalya, according to statements from both officials.

“I leave Antalya [Turkish city] with fond memories and a renewed commitment to further strengthening the enduring fraternal bonds between our two nations, and to continuing our close cooperation to advance dialogue and diplomacy for lasting peace and stability in the region,” Sharif posted on X.

The flurry of diplomacy comes as further negotiations are expected in Pakistan in the coming days as Islamabad intensifies contacts with regional and global leaders in an effort to sustain momentum towards a US-Iran deal.

Pressure for a deal between the two countries has grown after Iran reimposed restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, hours after its reopening following the start of a ceasefire in Lebanon. Tehran accused the US of violating a deal to reopen the strategically important waterway.

Donald Trump has said a second round of talks with Iran could be held in Pakistan in the coming days. The New York Post reported that Trump praised Munir, saying he was “doing a great job”.

Reporting from Islamabad, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said Munir landed back home on Saturday as Pakistan prepared for another round of US-Iran talks expected “within the next few days”.

“We have also seen a lot of praise from the Trump administration on social media, praising the Pakistani leadership. So all eyes are on Islamabad. Serious differences remain, but there is a flurry of diplomatic activity and a hope and expectation that some sort of breakthrough may happen,” he said.

Jalen Green’s 36 points helped lift the Phoenix Suns into the playoffs with a 111-96 play-in win over the visiting Golden State Warriors on Friday.

The Suns earned the Western Conference’s eighth postseason seed. They will visit the defending champion and top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday to open a first-round series.

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Phoenix scored 30 points off the Warriors’ 21 turnovers.

After Phoenix let a late lead slip away against the Portland Trail Blazers in the play-in opener, the Suns held on this time.

There was some late drama, though.

With the outcome already decided, Golden State’s Draymond Green fouled out with just more than a minute remaining. Warriors coach Steve Kerr shared a moment with Draymond Green and Stephen Curry, embracing both. The three were part of four NBA championship runs.

However, as action resumed, Draymond Green and the Suns’ Devin Booker began a heated discussion that carried on for several moments before the whistle blew and both players were issued a technical foul. Green was ejected.

Phoenix jumped out to a big lead with a 13-0 run after the Warriors scored the game’s first two points, then closed the quarter with eight consecutive points to lead 33-15.

Golden State’s 15 first-quarter points were their fewest in a quarter since scoring 14 in the fourth quarter on March 7 against the Thunder.

The Suns, who shot 52.4 percent in the first quarter, struggled in the second quarter as the Warriors roared back.

Phoenix was just 5 of 20 from the field in the second, and Golden State pulled within two on Curry’s free throws with 19.6 seconds remaining in the half.

As time ran down, Jalen Green elevated for a 3-pointer from the wing and drained it for the Suns’ first field goal in more than five minutes to give Phoenix a 50-45 lead at the break.

Golden State’s Brandin Podziemski scored 10 of his team-high 23 points in the second. He also led the Warriors with 10 rebounds.

The Suns used an 11-1 run – featuring two 3-pointers from Jalen Green – to regain control in the third quarter.

Booker finished with 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Phoenix’s Jordan Goodwin added 19 points, nine rebounds and six steals.

Curry recorded 17 points in the loss but was just 4 of 16 from the floor and 3 of 10 from 3-point range.

Magic extend Hornets’ playoff drought, face Pistons next

Paolo Banchero scored 25 points to lead ‌five players in double figures for the host Orlando Magic, who advanced to the ⁠Eastern Conference playoffs ⁠by routing the Charlotte Hornets 121-90 in the earlier play-in game on Friday.

The Magic, who finished eighth during the regular season, earned the eighth seed and will ⁠face the top-seeded Pistons in a best-of-seven first-round series beginning Sunday night in Detroit.

This is the third straight trip to the playoffs for the Magic – the longest streak for the franchise since ⁠a team-record six straight appearances from 2007-12.

LaMelo Ball scored 23 points for the Hornets, who finished ninth in the East. Charlotte earned a dramatic 127-126 overtime win over the Miami Heat in the first play-in game on Tuesday but missed the postseason for the 10th straight season – the NBA’s longest active drought.

Franz Wagner ‌had 18 points while Wendell Carter Jr. finished with 16 for the Magic, who also received 13 from Desmond Bane and 12 from Jalen Suggs. Orlando shot 50 percent (42 of 84) from the field and 29.6 percent (8-for-27) from 3-point range.

“When you play with a sense of desperation and urgency, when you know you’re either going home or you’re extending your season, that’s what it looks like,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said.

Miles Bridges scored 15 points, Brandon ⁠Miller had 14 and Kon Knueppel added 11 in Charlotte’s most lopsided ⁠loss of the season. The visitors shot just 33.7 percent (28 of 83) from the field and 26.7 percent (12 of 45) from beyond the arc.

Miller’s 3-pointer gave the Hornets their only lead at 5-4 with 9:58 left in the first quarter. The ⁠Magic scored the next 10 points, after which Bridges and Miller combined for five consecutive points.

The Magic responded by taking control with a ⁠13-0 run as Carter and Banchero combined for 11 points ⁠to take a 27-10 lead. Goga Bitadze’s layup gave Orlando its first 20-point lead at 36-16 with 54 seconds left.

The Magic led by as many as 35 in the second before entering the half with a 68-37 advantage. Orlando led ‌102-71 at the end of the third and by as many as 33 in the fourth.

“I hope that this fuels us this offseason, because we did a tonne of really good things ‌and ‌gave ourselves an opportunity – you’re one step away from being in the playoffs, so I don’t want to discredit that,” Hornets head coach Charles Lee said. “But this has got to, like, hurt a little bit.”

Ruling is latest loss for Trump administration, which has sought access to state voter data ahead of the US midterms.

A federal judge in the United States has dismissed a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to access voter data from Rhode Island.

The decision on Friday was the latest loss for the administration of President Donald Trump, which has sought to access voter data in dozens of states across the country.

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In the ruling, US District Court Judge Mary McElroy sided with election officials and civil rights groups, writing that the Justice Department does not have the authority “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here”.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore praised the ruling in a statement afterwards.

“The executive branch seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states,” Amore wrote.

“But the power of our democratic republic, built on three, coequal branches of government, is clearer than ever before.”

The Justice Department has sued at least 30 states for their voter information, maintaining it needs the information to secure election security. State officials have said that turning over the data raises an array of privacy concerns.

Under the US Constitution, state officials administer elections. Only Congress can pass laws related to how states oversee voting.

But Trump has sought to transform election administration, claiming that voting has been marred by widespread fraud.

In particular, Trump has continued to maintain that the 2020 election, in which he lost to former President Joe Biden, was “stolen”.

No evidence has ever been put forward to support the claims.

Federal judges have rejected attempts in California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Oregon to force the states to hand over voter files to the federal government. At least 12 states, however, have willingly provided or pledged to provide voter information to the Trump administration.

The push for voter information is one of several actions that have raised concerns over how the Trump administration will approach the midterm elections in November, which will decide the makeup of the US Congress.

He is currently calling on Republicans to pass the so-called SAVE America Act, a bill that would create higher documentation standards for voters to prove their citizenship when registering to vote and casting ballots.

The majority of Republican lawmakers have embraced Trump’s claim that the law is needed to prevent non-citizens from registering to vote, despite studies showing that instances of voter fraud are glancingly rare.

Critics say the measure would risk disenfranchising millions of voters, particularly those who have legally changed their names, which is a common practice in US marriages.

In every conflict, the calendar is as consequential as the cannon. The war that has consumed the Gulf between the United States, Israel and Iran is no exception. Beyond their primary adversaries, each of the three protagonists is battling time. Each is operating on a different political clock, facing a unique and potentially lethal deadline.

Washington: The midterm clock

In January 2025, Donald Trump returned to office with a philosophy of rapid-fire diplomacy, prioritising the art of the deal over the machinery of war. He dispatched Steve Witkoff to Oman and set a 60-day deadline. He genuinely believed that a sharp, decisive shock to Iran’s leadership would produce regime collapse within days, an expectation apparently reinforced by the Mossad and Netanyahu. It did not.

When that quick victory failed to materialise, the US found itself in a war of attrition in which time is on Iran’s side. Professor John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago was blunt: “Trump committed a colossal blunder.” The problem is structural: Iran holds substantial leverage over the global economy through the Strait of Hormuz and its continued ability to penetrate Gulf states’ and Israeli air defences, leaving the US with no clear exit strategy.

The domestic political cost is already severe. US crude oil jumped past $90 per barrel, up from $67 the day before the war broke out. Inflation climbed at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in March, with gasoline prices rising 21.2 percent, while higher energy costs accounted for nearly three-quarters of the monthly rise in the consumer price index.

Trump’s approval rating on the economy has hit an all-time low of 29 percent, and even 40 percent of Republicans now disapprove of his handling of inflation and rising prices.

The president is in a precarious political position, seven months before the midterm elections, facing his lowest approval ratings and presiding over an unpopular war. Even if the conflict ends soon, voters could still be grappling with pain at the petrol pump deep into the election season, as Republicans struggle to defend razor-thin majorities in Congress.

The cruel irony is that the man who promised to bring prices down may have personally ignited the biggest energy shock in a generation. “All the issues that brought down Joe Biden are now threatening to bring down Trump and Republicans in the midterm,” warned one Republican strategist.

Tehran: Holding burning coal

Iran’s calculus is equally time-sensitive, but inverted. Where Trump needs a quick exit, Tehran’s survival strategy depends on endurance. The war, which began on February 28, 2026, inflicted enormous damage on Iran: The killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials, strikes on nuclear infrastructure and a devastating economic shock. Yet the regime has not collapsed.

Mearsheimer argued that Iran’s vast landmass and dispersed military assets made it difficult to weaken decisively through rapid strikes and that even sustained military operations would be unlikely to dismantle its capabilities. Iran retains significant deterrent capacity, including missile systems and a network of regional allies, enabling it to sustain a prolonged confrontation.

Jeffrey Sachs, the Columbia University economist and a sharp critic of the war, argued that the conflict was strategically illiterate from the start. Trump, he says, “ripped up the agreement that already existed” to limit Iran’s nuclear programme. He then killed the Iranian religious leader who had long declared nuclear weapons contrary to Islamic law, before presiding over what is now a regional war.

Iran is holding burning coal. The pain is unbearable, but the hand has not let go. Tehran’s strategy is to absorb punishment long enough for Washington’s domestic clock to run out. Should oil prices hover above $100 and eventually hit $150, Trump’s deal-making power could evaporate as his domestic support crumbles under the weight of rising energy costs.

Sachs warned that a sustained closure of the Strait of Hormuz would trigger an unprecedented energy shock, as the strait carries approximately one-fifth of all oil traded globally and 30 percent of the world’s LNG.

Tel Aviv: The war that must not end

Israel’s temporal interests are the mirror image of Washington’s. Netanyahu, facing domestic legal proceedings and elections in a few months, has every incentive to keep the conflict going indefinitely. War marginalises critics, rallies the electorate around the flag and, crucially, creates political cover to pursue longstanding ambitions in Lebanon and beyond. Even after a US-Iran ceasefire was announced, Netanyahu’s office was explicit: The truce “does not include Lebanon”.

Gideon Levy, the veteran Haaretz columnist and one of Israel’s most relentless domestic critics, has long maintained that militarism is not merely a political tool for Netanyahu, but his defining worldview. “War is always the first option, not the last one in Israel,” Levy told Chris Hedges, pointing to a political culture that consistently defaults to military solutions while sidelining diplomacy.

Inside Israel, Levy observed, “there is no room for any question marks or doubts about this war.” War fever has gripped Israel, with polls showing overwhelming support among the Jewish public.

Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy provided a sobering assessment of Netanyahu’s long-term strategy: A drive for regional hegemony and expanded dominion. Netanyahu appears to be operating under a “use it or lose it” logic. Netanyahu appears willing to secure this hard-power status even if it hastens the US’s decline and erodes Israel’s traditional support base there.

The three clocks, ticking in different directions

What makes this conflict so explosive is that the three protagonists are operating on conflicting timelines. Trump needs a resolution before November. Iran needs to outlast him until November. Netanyahu needs the war to continue for as long as possible, or at least long enough to redraw the map of Lebanon, neutralise Hezbollah and enter elections wrapped in the flag.

Mearsheimer, assessing the outcome with characteristic directness, argued that Iran had won the war by surviving the initial assault, avoiding regime collapse and retaining enough military capacity to force Washington to look for an off-ramp. He argued that the final settlement would reflect that reality. Sachs went further, arguing that while Trump was publicly claiming Iran was desperate for a ceasefire, it was the White House that appeared increasingly eager for an off-ramp.

In the end, time may prove to be the only actor in this conflict that cannot be bombed, sanctioned or deceived. The architecture of the “morning after” will be shaped by those who grasp this logic and possess the domestic political capital to endure its consequences. On current evidence, Washington is the only capital where the clock is running out.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Standing on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding his helicopter for Las Vegas on Thursday, United States President Donald Trump offered his most optimistic assessment yet of the war with Iran.

“We’re very close to making a deal with Iran,” he told reporters. “They’ve totally agreed to that [no nuclear weapons]. They’ve agreed to almost everything, so maybe if they can get to the table, there’s a difference.”

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He went further, saying Iran had agreed to hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium, material that, if further enriched, can be used to build a nuclear weapon.

“They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers,” he said, referring to US strikes in June last year.

A deal, he added, could come “over the weekend”. Trump said he would consider travelling to Islamabad himself if an agreement was signed there. “If the deal is signed in Islamabad, I might go. They want me to go.”

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented a different picture. Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed that messages were being exchanged through Pakistan, but was unequivocal on enrichment.

Iran, he said, “based on its needs, must be able to continue enrichment”. No Iranian official has confirmed agreeing to surrender the country’s enriched uranium stockpile. Tehran’s public position, that enrichment is a sovereign right, remains unchanged.

Asif Durrani, a former Pakistani diplomat who served as Islamabad’s ambassador to Tehran from 2016 to 2018, said framing the situation as a gap between the two sides was misleading.

“There are no gaps, really. If Trump has read the NPT, he would know that every country has the right to access nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” he told Al Jazeera. “Iran has said multiple times that it does not want a weapon. What it wants is civil nuclear use, within the framework of both the NPT and the JCPOA.”

The NPT, or Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons while promoting peaceful nuclear energy and disarmament.

The JCPOA, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was the 2015 agreement between Iran and six world powers that capped Tehran’s uranium enrichment and placed its facilities under international supervision in exchange for sanctions relief.

The United States withdrew from the deal in 2018 during Trump’s first term, reimposing sanctions and setting in motion the gradual erosion of its limits on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Seyed Mojtaba Jalalzadeh, an international relations analyst, said the reality was more complex than public statements suggest.

“We should avoid simplistic binaries such as ‘one side is lying’,” he told Al Jazeera. “The gap visible between Trump’s remarks and the position of Iran’s foreign ministry is more a reflection of the complex, multilayered, and still unfinished nature of the negotiations.”

When Trump speaks of “total agreement”, Jalalzadeh said, “he is most likely offering the most maximalist possible reading of the negotiating process.”

It remains unclear whether Trump’s remarks reflect genuine backchannel progress or are a pressure tactic in advance of the April 22 ceasefire deadline, but Trump and Iran’s descriptions paint completely different pictures of the same negotiations.

Pakistan’s diplomatic orchestra

The most active diplomacy on Thursday ran through Tehran, where Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, held a series of high-level meetings.

Munir met Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Iran’s delegation at the Islamabad talks with the US last Saturday, followed by a meeting with President Masoud Pezeshkian.

He also met Major-General Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the operational command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday that Pakistani officials were expecting a “major breakthrough” on Iran’s nuclear programme “in days to come”, with messages continuing to pass between Washington and Tehran.

While Munir engaged Iranian leaders in Tehran, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pursued a parallel track, meeting Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia and Qatar before arriving at Turkiye’s Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Thursday evening.

Pakistan’s central role has been acknowledged by both sides.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said any further in-person talks would most likely take place in Islamabad.

“The Pakistanis have been incredible mediators throughout this process, and we really appreciate their friendship and their efforts to bring this deal to a close, so they are the only mediator in this negotiation,” she said.

Durrani cautioned that Pakistan’s role has limits.

“Pakistan is facilitating this meeting, and the most it can do is suggest certain things that mediators can offer in their capacity,” he said. “But ultimately, it all depends on the political will of the two parties.”

That political will now faces a ceasefire deadline set to expire on April 22.

Official sources told Al Jazeera that nearly 100 visa applications from journalists have been received in the past week, while authorities have begun tightening security in the capital in anticipation of a possible high-level event — the potential visit of US President Donald Trump, or at the very least, another round of high-level talks led by senior officials from Tehran and Washington.

Hardline signals from Tehran

Alongside diplomatic movement, Iran’s hardline establishment struck a sharper tone.

Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander and now a military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said on a state-owned television channel that he did not support extending the ceasefire.

“Unlike the Americans who are afraid of continuous war, we are fully prepared and familiar with a long war,” he said, according to Tasnim News Agency.

Abdollahi, speaking during his meeting with Munir and quoted by state news agency IRNA, said the conflict stemmed from a “miscalculation” by adversaries about Iran’s public support and military strength. He added that Iran’s forces remain ready for “comprehensive defence”.

Durrani dismissed suggestions of internal divisions.

“I don’t think there is any real division. Abdollahi is a military man and will speak as one; you cannot expect a military chief to say his country will not defend itself,” he said. “The Iranian system is functioning, and the supreme leader is the final authority.”

Jalalzadeh offered a more nuanced reading.

“Iran comes to the negotiating table with its finger on the trigger,” he said.

The Tehran-based analyst described the messaging as “significant, but not necessarily destabilising” for negotiations, adding that it appeared aimed at applying pressure and managing domestic opinion rather than signalling a split that could derail talks.

On the US side, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used a Pentagon news conference on Thursday morning to reinforce Washington’s coercive posture.

The US naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue “as long as it takes,” he said, adding that Washington remained “locked and loaded” on Iran’s energy infrastructure.

Lebanon factor and regional linkages

A development on the Lebanon front on Thursday offered a potential opening.

Trump on Thursday announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, a move that could influence broader negotiations.

Iran has consistently maintained that any agreement with the US must address the situation in Lebanon.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf, in a phone call with his Lebanese counterpart Nabih Berri on Thursday, details of which he posted on Telegram, said a ceasefire in Lebanon “is as important to Iran as a ceasefire in Iran itself”.

Grace Wermenbol, a former US national security official and senior visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said the development, while significant, carried familiar caveats.

“The ceasefire is an important first step. But we have been here before; the key question is whether it will hold or whether it will, just like in Gaza, be a ceasefire in name only,” she told Al Jazeera.

 

“This is not the ending [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu wanted. Once again, just like in Gaza, Yemen, and Iran, he has promised but failed to provide a long-term solution to Israeli security concerns through brute military action alone,” she said.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Tahir Andrabi reinforced the link between the two ceasefires – between the US and Iran, and between Israel and Lebanon – on Thursday.

“Peace in Lebanon is essential for US-Iran peace talks,” he said, adding that “signs of improvement on the Israel-Lebanon front over the past two days are encouraging.”

Shifting goalposts

The confusion around the nuclear issue comes against a backdrop of evolving US objectives.

When the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, the stated aims were sweeping.

On March 6, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.”

A 15-point proposal delivered by Pakistan to Tehran on March 25 called for ending Iran’s nuclear programme, curbing its missile capabilities, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and halting support for regional proxy groups.

What is now being discussed bears little resemblance to those demands.

Missiles and proxies have largely been dropped from the public agenda. Instead, discussions focus on enrichment limits, monitoring mechanisms, and Iran’s estimated 440kg (970 pounds) of highly enriched uranium.

The US has proposed a 20-year freeze on enrichment, while Iran has countered with a five-year offer, according to reports.

Sahar Khan, a Washington DC-based independent analyst and nonresident fellow at the Institute for Global Affairs, argued the shift was less dramatic than it appeared.

“It’s not really a shift but more or less back to the JCPOA status quo, which had put a cap at enrichment levels and created a schedule for supervision,” she said.

She said the dispute over “zero enrichment” was largely definitional.

“Iran would be OK with ‘zero enrichment’ if it means it can produce its own nuclear fuel and maintain its centrifuges,” she said, “because it would mean that Iran does not have to depend on external suppliers, who will halt supply if Iran is put under sanctions again,” the analyst said.

Durrani attributed the shift to changing realities on the ground.

“The US was dictated to by Israel. It was Israel that pushed the US into this war,” he said.

“But now Israel has had a shock, and the US has also come to realise that it all comes down to the endurance of your opponent. Iran has demonstrated that endurance, it has shown it can sustain the pain,” the former envoy said.

He added that despite its military power, the US was unwilling to deploy ground troops. “That kind of staying power is not something you find on the US and Israeli side.”

The April 22 deadline now looms over the process.

Speaking in Las Vegas on Thursday evening, Trump said the war was going “swimmingly” and would “end pretty soon”, adding that talks could resume “over the weekend”.

Whether a second round materialises in Islamabad, and what minimum understanding the two sides might accept, remains unclear.

Khan said any agreement may hinge on deliberate ambiguity.

“Both sides need a ‘win’ on the nuclear issue, and something they can sell to their respective public,” she said.

The proposed 76-metre arch would tower over other iconic landmarks in Washington, DC, and has attracted scrutiny.

United States President Donald Trump’s goal of erecting a colossal arch in Washington, DC, has taken another step forward, with a key agency approving his proposed design for the monument.

The US Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump, gave its go-ahead to the president’s design for a lofty 76-metre-high (250-foot) arch.

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If given final approval, the arch would be built on Memorial Circle, between the Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. It would tower above other landmarks in the national capital.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle hailed the commission’s approval as a “step in accomplishing President Trump’s promise to the American people from the campaign trail — to Make America Safe and Beautiful Again”.

But the arch has faced criticism, including for potentially obscuring views of the national cemetery, a resting place for war veterans.

Public Citizen Litigation Group is representing some Vietnam War veterans in a lawsuit against the proposed construction, which they argue needs congressional approval.

Even the vice chair of the Commission of Fine Arts, James McCrery II, suggested that Trump’s proposed “Triumphal Arch” ditch the winged statue and eagles on its top. He also opposed the lions at its base, pointing out that African animals are “not a beast natural to the North American continent”.

The enormous arch is another effort by the US president to leave his mark on the physical landscape of Washington, DC.

In January, he told reporters he wants the arch to be the “biggest one of all”. The commission still needs to vote on final approval for the proposal after reviewing updated designs.

Current plans show the arch would be significantly larger than the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet (30 metres) tall, and about twice as tall as the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which the design resembles.

The phrases “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All” would be written in gold lettering atop either side of the monument.

About three out of every four people who delivered public comments about the project expressed opposition, many of them citing its enormous size.

But the arch is one of several Trump projects that have received public pushback.

Trump has sought to paint the granite of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building white, and his allies plan to close the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a national theatre complex, for two years of renovations, after adding Trump’s name to the exterior.

One of the most permanent changes so far has been the abrupt demolition of the White House’s East Wing, in order to make room for an enormous ballroom, long one of Trump’s priorities.

But that project is likewise entangled in legal battles, with critics arguing that congressional approval is required.

On Wednesday, Judge Richard Leon clarified that construction on underground structures at the ballroom site could continue, as part of an exemption he previously allowed for national security concerns.

But he maintained his short-term injunction against construction on the ballroom itself, batting down Trump’s position that the whole project should proceed.

“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” Leon wrote in Thursday’s ruling.

“That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”

The president responded on social media by calling Leon an “out of control Trump hating” judge. Leon was appointed in 2002 under Republican President George W Bush.

The company’s stock plunged about 8 percent on the news of Hastings’s departure.

Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings is leaving the streaming service he cofounded 29 years ago as the company regains its footing after it lost its $72bn deal for Warner Bros Discovery to Paramount Skydance.

In a letter to investors released on Thursday, Netflix said Hastings will not stand for re-election at its annual meeting in June and plans to focus on philanthropy and other pursuits.

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The company’s stock plunged about 8 percent on the news of Hastings’s departure. The cofounder is credited with helping to revolutionise how movies and television shows are delivered in homes, upending Hollywood’s business model.

“Netflix is growing revenues double-digits, expanding margins in 2026 and gushing free cash flow,” said LightShed Partners media analyst Richard Greenfield. “While the Q1 was uneventful financially, the departure of Reed Hastings has spooked investors.”

Netflix reaffirmed in a 14-page shareholder letter that its mission remains “ambitious and unchanged” – to entertain the world, providing movies and series for many tastes, cultures and languages. The company’s full-year outlook remained unchanged.

The company did not say how it plans to spend the $2.8bn termination fee it received after losing the Warner Bros movie studio and HBO, and lifted its earnings per share to $1.23 in the first quarter compared with 66 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue rose to $12.25bn, an increase of 16 percent from the year-ago period, modestly exceeding analyst forecasts of $12.18bn.

Netflix, which long told investors that a Warner Bros acquisition was a “nice to have, not need to have” proposition, highlighted areas of future growth.

The company said its investment in expanding its entertainment offerings, with video podcasts and live entertainment – such as the World Baseball Classic in Japan – is driving engagement.

It plans to use technology to improve the user experience and improve monetisation, as advertising revenue remains on track to reach $3bn in 2026 – a twofold increase from a year ago.

The State Department in the United States has announced it is restricting visas for “individuals from countries in our hemisphere who support our adversaries in undermining America’s interests in our region”.

Thursday’s statement underlined that 26 individuals had already seen their visas stripped as part of the policy.

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The State Department’s stance comes as President Donald Trump seeks to expand US influence across the Western Hemisphere, as part of a platform he calls the “Donroe Doctrine”, a riff on the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine.

Since taking office for a second term, Trump has taken an aggressive stance towards stopping drug trafficking across the Americas, threatening economic penalties and military action for noncompliance.

He has also sought to check China’s growing sway over the region, as an increasing number of Latin American countries tighten their bonds with the Asian superpower.

The State Department explained that the expanded visa restrictions would penalise those who “knowingly direct, authorise, fund, or provide significant support to” US adversaries in the Western Hemisphere.

“Activities include but are not limited to: enabling adversarial powers to acquire or control key assets and strategic resources in our hemisphere; destabilising regional security efforts; undermining American economic interests; and conducting influence operations designed to undermine the sovereignty and stability of nations in our region,” the statement added.

The language was vague, never mentioning China or the campaign against drug-trafficking cartels.

But it continues a trend under the Trump administration to revoke visas from foreign critics and political opponents.

Last year, for instance, the administration sought to revoke visas for pro-Palestine protesters, claiming their presence could have foreign policy consequences for the US.

More recently, the administration has terminated the immigration visas for at least seven individuals with familial ties to the Iranian government or individuals connected to the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Revoking visas

The statement on Thursday did not identify the 26 individuals facing visa restrictions as part of the expanded policy.

But it cited the same authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act that the Trump administration has used to attempt to deport pro-Palestine student protesters last year.

Under the law, the entry of foreign nationals can be restricted when the secretary of state has reason to believe they pose “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

While the administration has abandoned deportation efforts against some of the targeted individuals, at least two, Mahmoud Khalil and Badar Khan Suri, continue to face expulsion.

More recently, the administration has terminated the immigration visas for at least seven individuals with familial ties to the Iranian government or individuals connected to the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Already, some figures in Latin America have seen their visas revoked over political disagreements with the US.

In July, Brazilian officials involved in the prosecution of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro saw their US visas withdrawn. They included Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a frequent target of right-wing ire.

Then, in September, the Trump administration stripped Colombian President Gustavo Petro of his visa after he made an appearance at the UN General Assembly that was critical of US policy.

The State Department, at the time, denounced Petro for “reckless and incendiary actions”. He was later invited to visit the White House in February, as part of a detente with Trump.

Visa restrictions have been part of Trump’s larger policy to exert pressure on foreign groups and limit immigration into the US.

Earlier this year, the administration enacted immigrant visa bans on dozens of countries, citing both national security and alleged stresses on social services.

Trump has also sought to take a more militaristic approach towards Latin American governments it deems as adversarial, referring to the whole of the Western Hemisphere as the US’s “neighbourhood”.

In January, the US launched an attack on Venezuela that culminated in the abduction and imprisonment of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and it has also initiated an ongoing fuel blockade against Cuba.

Some of Trump’s actions in the region have been deadly. The Venezuela attack left dozens of Cubans and Venezuelans killed. And since September, the Trump administration has conducted at least 51 lethal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

The death toll in that campaign has reached at least 177 people. Rights groups have decried the attacks as extrajudicial killings.

But the Trump administration has labelled multiple drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations” and has argued they are seeking to destabilise the US through the drug trade.