

Iran plays hardball with the US to throw it off balance
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Iran’s abandonment of a planned meeting with U.S. and regional officials in Turkey in hopes of holding more narrowly defined talks in Oman is right out of the regime’s hardball playbook—a last-minute curveball aimed at leaving everyone else off balance.
The diplomatic gambit along with military moves the same day, in which Iran launched a drone at an American aircraft carrier and sent gunboats to harass a U.S.-flagged oil tanker, suggest Tehran is determined to turn the tables and apply pressure on the U.S. as President Trump builds up forces in the region and tries to push Iran to negotiate on his terms. Iran’s tactics present a challenge for Trump’s style of diplomacy, in which he prefers quick deals negotiated via a small number of trusted lieutenants.
With few good options, analysts say Iran is playing for time and risking miscalculation as the armed standoff continues. “It’s not particularly auspicious in terms of what comes next," said Michael Wahid Hanna, the U.S. program director at International Crisis Group.
“The buildup of force and the threat of force hasn’t created that much room for actual diplomacy. It seems as if the ask was capitulation, effectively. " Regional powers had pushed hard to set up the talks in Turkey in hopes of opening a diplomatic pathway to avert a possible war while addressing their own concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missiles and support for regional militias.
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