U.S., Iran ratchet up rhetoric with peace talks in limbo

The U.S. and Iran escalated their war of words as a shaky ceasefire nears expiry, with each side raising the stakes ahead of a second attempt at reaching a peace deal.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, appeared to up the ante in a social media post on Tuesday, criticising U.S. President Donald Trump for “imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire,” and for seeking to turn the negotiation into “a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering.”

Ghalibaf also suggested that Iran is holding fresh leverage in the standoff. “In the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” Ghalibaf said, without elaborating. “We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats,” he added.

The sharpened rhetoric came after Trump renewed his threat of bombarding Iran with overwhelming military force if no deal is reached, saying that “lots of bombs [will] start going off.”

The status of further peace talks and other key details of the current relationship between the warring powers have grown increasingly opaque, with Trump vacillating between resuming saber-rattling rhetoric and indicating Washington’s readiness for additional negotiations with Iran.

“This is the last chance to achieve an agreement before the ceasefire expires,” Marc Sievers, former U.S. ambassador to Oman, said on CNBC’s “Access Middle East” on Monday, warning that the stakes are high if Trump follows through with his threat of resuming military hostilities against Iran’s power plants and bridges.

The escalation in tensions came as a U.S. delegation was preparing to travel back to Pakistan for a potential second round of peace talks. The American delegation “plans to travel to Islamabad soon,” a source familiar with the matter told CNBC on Monday morning.

Iran, for its part, has repeatedly denied that it will participate in the meeting. A delegation from Tehran plans to travel to Islamabad on Tuesday for talks, according to The New York Times, citing two Iranian officials.

A first round of talks in Islamabad, led by Vice President JD Vance and U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, ended on April 12 with no resolution to thorny issues like Iran’s nuclear program.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on the evening of April 7. The temporary truce has come under mounting strain throughout its short duration, with each side accusing the other of violating its terms.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Trump said the truce expires on “Wednesday evening Washington time,” potentially buying additional hours for negotiations. Trump added he is unlikely to extend the Iran ceasefire beyond Wednesday and won’t…