Middle East Crisis Peace Talks

Analysis: Trump's lack of "poker face" threatens talks

Donald Trump's unique negotiating style is being seen by several international observers ahead of a possible round of new peace talks between the US and Iran. Never has it been clearer that the president, who sees himself as a master of coercive diplomacy, has faced an opponent who values ​​perseverance, writes David E Sanger in an analytical text in the New York Times.

If the stakes were not so incredibly high, it would be a classic example of different negotiating styles, he writes. He also quotes Robert Malley, who negotiated with the Iranians ahead of the 2015 nuclear deal.

- Trump demands immediate results - Iran's leadership is playing 'the long game'.

CNN's Stephen Collinson writes that by appearing desperate, Trump is violating one of his own commandments in his 1987 entrepreneurial bible, "The Art of the Deal."

"He can't stop talking about the possibility of a deal. But because he's not at the negotiating table with Iran's leaders, he may actually be making the prospects worse."

Trump is hardly offering a "poker face," unlike the Iranian authorities who are staying in the background, Collinson writes. 

Sources: JD Vance Expected to Leave for Pakistan Today

Vice President JD Vance is expected to fly to Islamabad, Pakistan, for peace talks with Iran on Tuesday, multiple sources told Axios.

He will travel with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Iran, however, is still sending mixed signals about its presence at the meeting.

“We do not accept negotiations under threat,” writes Iranian Speaker and Chief Negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on X. He also states that Iran has prepared “new cards” for the battlefield.

At the same time, he has said that he will attend the meeting, as long as JD Vance does too, sources tell The New York Times.

Sources: Solution was close before Trump’s speech began

Donald Trump may have made peace talks with Iran more difficult through his public statements this weekend, CNN reports, citing sources in the president’s team.

– The Iranians did not appreciate that the US president negotiated via social media and made it appear as if they had approved issues that they had not yet agreed on, says a source.

The informants believe that the negotiations were close to a breakthrough before the weekend. Then Trump did what his aides repeatedly told him not to do: he posted about the ongoing talks and spoke to several reporters on the phone.

Trump claimed that the war was almost over and that Iran had agreed to a series of provisions that the sources said had not yet been finalized.