U.S. officials believe there is a significant chance that the war with Iran will resume, and possibly with greater intensity than before, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The newspaper cited senior advisers in the U.S. administration as saying one of the main concerns is that Iran is not expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without major concessions from the United States, concessions that, they said, President Donald Trump is unlikely to grant. Officials warned that this gridlock could lead to renewed fighting.
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Trump himself threatened Thursday morning that hostilities would resume if what he called the “real agreement” already reached with Iran is not fully implemented. In a post on Truth Social, he pledged that Iran would obtain "NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE."
But the strait has still not reopened, despite Trump’s original announcement of a temporary two-week ceasefire that he said was conditioned on the “full, immediate and safe” reopening of the strategic waterway.
Iranian officials said Wednesday that traffic had not resumed, apparently because of Israeli strikes in Lebanon, which Tehran claims are covered by the ceasefire agreement. Israel and the United States have rejected that claim.
Negotiations with Iran on a permanent arrangement to end the war are supposed to begin Saturday in Pakistan. Vice President JD Vance is expected to lead the U.S. side alongside Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. For now, however, it remains unclear whether the talks will take place.
On Wednesday night, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has been reported as the official expected to lead the negotiations on Iran’s behalf, said that “three key clauses” of the ceasefire had already been violated before negotiations even began.
He pointed to the continuing strikes in Lebanon and also alleged that a drone had entered Iranian territory. He said the third violation was a series of statements that amounted to “denial of Iran’s right to enrichment” of uranium. Because of those alleged violations, he said, holding negotiations with the United States had become “unreasonable.”
Vance said Wednesday night that Iran’s claims that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire stemmed from a misunderstanding, and he made clear that this was not the case.
At the same time, he said that “the Israelis... have actually offered to... check themselves a little bit in Lebanon” and are trying to help create conditions for successful negotiations with Iran.
Iran has still not allowed shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz, and Trump is demanding full implementation of what he says is the “real deal” already reached.
In his Truth Social post Thursday, Trump wrote that all U.S. ships, aircraft and military personnel, along with ammunition, weapons and anything else deemed necessary for what he described as a deadly strike and the destruction of the enemy, would remain in and around Iran until the agreement was fully carried out.
“ If for any reason it is not,” Trump wrote, “which is highly unlikely, then the 'Shootin’ Starts,' bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”
He concluded the post by writing: “In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK!”