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Iran declared Tuesday it is fully prepared to resume fighting as a U.S.-brokered ceasefire approaches its deadline with no confirmed second round of peace talks in sight, while President Donald Trump separately boasted that American forces have used the pause to rearm and are "raring to go."
The twin signals of military readiness from both Washington and Tehran deepened uncertainty over whether negotiations in Islamabad will take place at all before the truce expires.
Tasnim News, a semi-official Iranian news agency, reported that Tehran is "fully prepared for the possibility of renewed war," with preparations said to include military relocations, the drawing up of new target lists, and what the agency described as "new surprises."
The statement mirrored the combative tone struck by Trump earlier in the day, who told CNBC's Squawk Box that the U.S. military had spent the ceasefire restocking munitions. "We have so much ammo, so much of everything," Trump said. "We're ready to go. The military is raring to go."
As the deadline ticked closer, Pakistan said it had still not received a formal response from Iran on whether its delegation would attend a second round of negotiations in Islamabad. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar described the decision as "critical," with only hours remaining before the ceasefire expires. Trump had told CNBC that Iran had "no choice" but to come to the table.
In a Truth Social post shortly after the interview aired, he said Iran's leaders would "soon be in negotiations" with his "representatives," without specifying who would lead the U.S. side.
Reports throughout the day pointed to Vice President JD Vance as the likely head of the American delegation, alongside Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. A White House official told Reuters, however, that Vance had not yet departed and remained in Washington for policy meetings.
Trump's public posture has grown harder to parse as the ceasefire deadline approaches. In his CNBC interview, he claimed the war had produced regime change, saying "It is regime change, no matter what you want to call it, which is not something I said I was going to do, but I've done it, indirectly maybe, but I've done it."
The denial contradicts his speech of February 28 announcing the launch of military operations, in which he told the Iranian people: "The hour of your freedom is at hand... when we are finished, take over your government, it will be yours to take." In mid-January, during a crackdown on protesters that Trump said killed 42,000 people, he had urged Iranians on Truth Social to "KEEP PROTESTING, TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS," adding that "HELP IS ON ITS WAY."
Whether genuine regime change has occurred remains disputed. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening strikes of the conflict, but power has not passed to an opposition movement.
His son Mojtaba has assumed the role of supreme leader, and the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the institutional backbone of Iran's security state, remains intact. Trump's stated war aims have shifted repeatedly throughout the campaign, encompassing everything from halting Iran's nuclear program and destroying its navy, to fostering civilian uprising.
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