Vice President Vance is expected to depart for Islamabad by Tuesday morning for talks with Iran over a potential deal to end the war, three U.S. sources tell Axios. Why it matters: Vance will arrive in Pakistan with the ceasefire on the verge expiring. President Trump has threatened to launch a new bombing campaign on Iranian bridges and power plants if a deal can't be reached. - While a full-scale deal on such a tight timeline would be difficult, Trump could also agree to extend the deadline if there are signs of progress. - Trump already effectively added a day. While the two weeks agreed in the ceasefire will run out on Tuesday, he said on Monday that the deadline was Wednesday evening. Behind the scenes: The White House spent all…
President Trump suggested that Iran’s current leaders were “much more reasonable” as he sought to show progress in his war aims. Despite a month of U.S.-Israeli attacks, Iran’s government, led by clerics and the Revolutionary Guards, appears firmly in control.
With the Revolutionary Guards now dominant following the killing of veteran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the war on February 28, hardline views on Iran's nuclear approach are in the ascendant, two senior Iranian sources said.
Reza Pahlavi , the exiled former crown prince of Iran , is positioning himself as the "transitional" leader if the Islamic Republic collapses. The big picture: Pahlavi has voiced confidence in President Trump and previously met with administration officials to address unrest inside Iran — relationships that could bolster his standing after the U.S.-Israel strike on Iran on Saturday . - "The assistance that the President of the United States had promised to the brave people of Iran has now arrived," Pahlavi posted in a video statement. "This is a humanitarian intervention, and its target is the Islamic Republic, its apparatus of repression, and its machinery of killing—not the country and great nation of Iran." The latest: The U.S.…